


GWX 2021

by azurephantasm



Category: Guild Wars (Video Game), Guild Wars 2 (Video Game), Guild Wars Series (Video Games)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Dark Fantasy, Detailed combat scenes, F/F, F/M, Gore/Blood, M/M, mature content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2018-04-19 10:00:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 33
Words: 67,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4742120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurephantasm/pseuds/azurephantasm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dark entity has trapped the entire world in this "sequel to the game." A new adventure awaits a small guild of players in this mysterious third installment to the Guild Wars franchise. </p><p>The thing is none of us remember logging in, and yet we're all here. Can we escape, or is this our new reality?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In retrospect, since I've been writing this story for over two years now, my writing style has gotten a lot less embarrassing over time. This story started as a fun gag and experiment, and has now evolved into something I've very invested in. So, for new readers (or a couple few of you rereading) just know that this, and a few of the earlier chapters, are in need of some serious reworking. I hope y'all can enjoy them however, and look forward to the rest of the story later on. <3

Chapter 1: Prologue

A fantasy world, the game world, one where mystical beings and creatures ruled. Was it a waste of time, or one where you could be free? Regardless of what others defined it as, one thing was for sure: escapism was what Rielle got out of it. The routines, the daily 9 to 5s, and the general uninteresting world we fooled around in was just dull to her. There had to be more to it than she thought. That's what games were for though. An almost second life you could live in. A fantasy world where the rules are completely different. There you could be someone else entirely. Someone powerful, someone smart, or someone who wasn't afraid of anything. This was the world she would much rather be in.

 

_"Wake up..."_

 

The year was 2021. The Video Game Industry was at a peak it had never seen before. Almost everyone you knew played some sort of game in their free time. It was the favored art form of the era. From band simulators with virtual concerts, to romance games with real or artificial dates. The only problem that persisted was the difference between reality and the virtual aspect. It wasn't until early that Spring a particular company announced the next best thing in games: a true Virtual Reality fantasy game. That game was Guild Wars X, otherwise known as "GWX".

 

_"Hey, wake up!"_

 

This wasn't the beginning though. Before this came Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, both of which Rielle was a huge fan of. They offered something that other MMOs didn't. In these games she found companions, not just some online people she could run around with. In the first game she was a part of a small but closely tied guild called Blood Oath. At that point though, it was pretty much just that: a game. You logged in and talked to your friends, did some quests, and logged out. Simple, huh? A few years later the next big hit was announced. Guild Wars 2 was far superior to its previous installment, and Rielle's second family Blood Oath carried over into the new world. Unfortunately this didn't last long and she didn't have as much time as before to play. In between days Rielle got to spend time in the game something seemed to be brewing. The next thing she knew Rielle logged in and witnessed her friends’ relationships crumble before her. Arguments were constant. Rage and betrayal were common. Nothing was the same anymore and Rielle wasn't completely sure what had happened. They ended up going their separate ways and most of her old companions didn't get online again.

 

By the time the game reached its second anniversary, Rielle had moved on. After getting with a couple of different guilds nothing really seemed the same as before. She had made new friends, certainly, but no group was like the family she had before. This was the decision that lead her to start her own guild. "It only takes one person to make a guild, technically", she thought. There really wasn't much fun in that, though. So, teaming up with her two high-school friends, they founded the best three-person guild they could form, Eternal Dragonborn or the DRGN as the guild tag displayed.

 

So as time went on they leveled their characters and before they knew it the maximum level was already within sight. Things were not only getting stronger though as they progressed, it was almost as if the game was becoming unbeatable. Stories and rumors began to be told around the towns of impossible to beat final bosses and entire guilds being defeated by certain bosses that took days to reach. Naturally Rielle and the DRGN were up to the task, but things were beginning to seem strange. Why would the developers start to change the balance of the game this way? What would be fun about the average player not even being able to finish the main story mode of the game? Her guild mates didn't think much of it and reassured Rielle that they could manage.

 

The night that the DRGN stepped into Orr, the final area of the game, they meet an informant that told them of a certain guild's defeat at the hands of Kralkatorrik itself. This extremely powerful Elder Dragon was one of the enemies in the game some players thought only to be a legend. It was said to be a thousand feet tall and had a wingspan that could block out the sun. The guild LGN fell victim to it's might, but told the public they wouldn't give up. This was the confidence Rielle needed. She began to believe these Elder Dragons could really be defeated, and so the DRGN set out to finish their main quest. After many game play sessions and time spent into overcoming the harsh final dungeon, they finally met their last foe.

 

They called it Zhaitan, the Elder Undead Dragon. It controlled hoards of undead corpses and its domain was a realm of shadow and death. It seemed impossible at times but the group held their own against the waves of enemies. Their synergy was on point, and at times it almost seemed as if they weren't behind their screens at all but actually in the game fighting alongside each other. It was this surreal feeling that Rielle enjoyed so much. These weren't just players in your party. You weren't just here fighting a common enemy because the game's text said to do so. This was teamwork among fighters that held a bond of trust and loyalty with each other regardless of how fictional the circumstances were. The fight seemed to go on for hours, but in the end Zhaitan was defeated by the trio and an exceptionally large airship. There was that too.

 

Within the next coming few weeks, reports and forum posts confirmed the defeat of the remaining Elder Dragons, almost out of nowhere. Then something extremely strange happened. Twelve days after the final Elder Dragon's defeat, the game went offline. Characters’ accounts were refunded a percentage of their game costs and the game's site went down completely. Reporters went to the company's offices and found them empty. It was like they vanished completely. The community was half outraged and half bewildered. The media eventually dubbed it a viral marketing stunt, and a few years later it quietly became just another internet urban legend.

 

_"Come on, wake up! You're not dead, idiot."_

 

Then out of nowhere it was back into her life. In the Spring of 2021, the company that created Guild Wars was back and seemingly going strong. Pre-orders for their newest game opened up, but all they really told the public was "that it was going to change the world of video games forever." Of course Rielle preordered the game and it's special hardware. "It looks like a Virtual Boy to be honest with you,” she thought. “Let's hope it doesn't melt my brain or something if my character dies."

  
The night the game was to be released, Rielle sent out a message to her old DRGN guild mates. After defeating the dragon and the game going offline they couldn't help but to fall out of touch a bit. The physical distance between them made it difficult, and as time went on it was inevitable. In her message Rielle noted, "This will be like old times, huh? For the DRGN!" She glanced at her phone one more time before falling asleep, eager to start this new adventure in the morning.


	2. (Be)coming Online

Chapter 2: (Be)coming Online

 

"Come on now,” the cloaked figure said as it was pulling Rielle out of the snow. "I can tell you're coming to a bit so let's get you up and at 'em." 

 

Rielle squinted as she tried to open her eyes. The blazing sun reflecting off of the snow was not what she anticipated. As her vision came into focus she started to recognize her surroundings. Above her was the statue of the hero Jora, a norn warrior.

 

"Am I... Am I in Hoelbrak?" Rielle was a bit confused. "How...? Is this...? What the hell?"

 

"I know, it's a bit bizarre isn't it?" the man said as he removed his hood. Standing above Rielle was a Sylvari, a humanoid plant-like race that lived in the forests of Guild Wars 2. He had light purple-tinted skin and thin branches with small leaves for hair. "This is it, I suppose. It doesn't seem like we're in a game at all, does it?"

 

"You're right," Rielle replied. "What's going on here? I don't remember even starting the game and yet here we are. By the way, you're who, exactly?"

 

"Oh come now, it hasn't been that long,” the sylvari said, laughing. "You mean to tell me that our leader, the mighty Rielle Dragonborn, has forgotten one of her officers of the DRGN?"

 

"No way. No way no way no way. Mor-" Rielle cleared her throat. "Amaranth Rosewood, the Illusionary Duelist, the Glacier Dragon, and Scout Officer of the Eternal Dragonborn?"

 

"The one and only. Although I don't remember my titles being that fancy, Rielle. Besides, it's nothing compared to the Lord of the-" Amaranth was interrupted by a loud crash that came from down the street, followed by the sound of a Norn laughing.

 

"Woah, that was probably the loudest laugh I've ever heard,” Rielle said with a wide-eyed look on her face. "I don't remember this place being that close to the bar. Speaking of, should we go get a pint?"

 

"Naturally. It hadn't crossed my mind yet what this game's food and drink features might be like,” Amaranth said as they started to head down the path. Along the way in shallow ditches and underneath trees were people sleeping. They were everywhere, it seemed. Amaranth reassured Rielle and told her not to be alarmed. They were players that hadn't awoken yet, he said. But it was creepy, with these bodies all over. Why were they put in the game like this? Would they also not remember anything when they woke?

 

The two quickly found themselves at the Great Lodge. It was by far the largest structure in town with its multiple floors and gigantic Nordic design. An 8-foot-tall Norn greeted them at the door and asked them if they wanted to be pointed towards the bar or if they'd want a room for the night. "The room please,” Amaranth quickly answered. 

 

On the way up the stairs Rielle grabbed him by the arm and whispered to him, "Was that an NPC or...?" 

 

Amaranth didn't answer.

 

They made it to the room they had rented and Rielle quickly shut the door behind them. The room itself was expansive and included two beds facing an open balcony with a fireplace on one side and a small bar on the other. "You know something, don't you?" Rielle blurted out.

 

"Hey, look, there's ale and some cups under the bar. Want that drink?" Amaranth said evasively.

 

"Come on, what's wrong, Amar?"

 

Amaranth sighed. "No... No, that wasn't an NPC and that's what disturbs me."

 

"How do you know for sure? How can you tell?" Rielle said.

 

With a flick of his wrist, a game menu similar to the one in Guild Wars 2 appeared in front of Amaranth. "You see here? Through the menu there's a game manual. I was poking through it briefly before I got the message to come find you... Which I'll get to later. The introduction to the game says that players will be able to choose an appropriate job or class, or remain undecided, and the game will find something for them to help them get started."

 

"That doesn't make any sense. What MMO picks your class for you without any indication? Besides, there was no information posted before the game’s release so there's no way we'd know this."

 

"That's the thing, Rielle. None of it makes any sense. You'd expect it to be similar to the previous game or perhaps another MMO, but it's not. Very little of it is. There are no NPCs around. This doesn't feel like a game to me anymore. It feels like..."

 

"What? It feels like what? Of course it's a game, what else could it be? It's a damned good one, that's for sure."

 

"Rielle, I... I don't know. What I  _ do _ know is that I didn't go to sleep last night. I had planned to stay up all night and be one of the first people online. I was sitting in front of my computer strapped into the headset with controller in hand waiting for the timer to hit zero, and when it did everything was different. I was in a dark room with a single light overhead and a full-length mirror in front of me. There were menus adjacent to the mirror like the ones in a character creation screen. I thought it was bizarrely realistic, but I made this character nonetheless. When I confirmed my selections, the purple sylvari I saw in the mirror, the one you see before you as well, was who I became as I drew my next breath. The next thing I knew I was immediately in the Grove, surrounded by these 'sleeping players' we saw outside."

 

Rielle didn't know what to say at this point. She looked at her hands, clenching them, and then cracked her fingers. It felt real - just like it was supposed to, she thought. Rielle walked over to a mirror above the fireplace. She saw a tall and thin but slightly muscular woman with long and curly reddish blonde hair looking back at her. "So... What next, then, do you suggest?"

 

"Well, before you ask, it looks like we're stuck here as well,” Amaranth speculated. "I've looked through and searched the manual for any way to log out of the game and it simply doesn't exist. It seems like we've gotten ourselves into one of those 'stuck-in-a-video-game' scenarios that fiction liked to predict all the time. I had a feeling virtual reality was too good to be true."

 

Rielle paused and looked at him with a contented expression and then leisurely walked out onto the balcony. She chugged the rest of her glass of ale and slammed it onto the railing. "Well, if this is it then we'd better make the best of it. Is it safe to assume the normal rules of ‘if you die here than you die in real life as well’?"

Amaranth nodded and said with a sigh, "More than likely it seems. Probably safe to assume that we'll have to defeat some impossible odds just to be free as well."

 

"Typical,” Rielle said. She started to say something else but was interrupted by more screaming, this time followed by what sounded like an explosion. "What's going on out there?"

 

Amaranth came out onto the balcony as well. "Well if I had to guess, I'd say it was time to test out some combat mechanics. You up to it?"

 

"Do you have to ask?" Rielle answered with a laugh. "The thing is, though, I don't have a weapon, Mr. Fancyswords."

 

Amaranth looked down at the sword and dagger attached at his waist. "Yeah, about that,” he said while opening his inventory menu. "Got you this, pal." A bow and quiver appeared in his hands when the menu closed and he handed them to Rielle. "Seemed a bit up your alley I figured." 

 

Rielle nodded with a smirk on her face.

 

The two rushed down the stairwell, almost running into a waitress on the way down. "If you wanted another drink you only needed to ask!", the waitress yelled as the two ran off out the front. 

 

"I'll be back for one!", Rielle shouted back, winking to the waitress on the way out.

 

Once they made it outside, the atmosphere completely changed. Ice spires began to shoot up through the ground catching a few sleeping players in between the spikes. "Is the game killing people already?" Rielle cried.

 

"That's not fair. They're not even awake to see this beautiful world yet,” Amaranth said, unsheathing his sword and dagger. He tossed a dagger at one of the sleeping players and a copy of himself appeared at his target. The doppelganger threw the person over its shoulder and rushed back towards the inn.

 

"Dude, you're like level 2 and you can do that already?" Rielle said with a hint of jealousy.

 

Amaranth winked. "One must not head into battle without a few tricks up their sleeve." Just as he finished saying this an ice spire shot up behind Rielle. The spike shattered, knocking the two off their feet, and out from it appeared a skeletal figure. The creature had bones that looked to be made from stone and flesh made of ice. It raised a sword in the air, ready to strike down at Rielle. Without hesitation Amaranth flung his dagger in the creature's face and cut at its feet with his sword. He parried the creature’s next attack, grabbed the dagger embedded in its face, and disappeared in a flash of purple light. His opponent was disoriented, and so was Rielle, to be honest. Then out of thin air the two weapons struck up through the creature's chest and were quickly pulled apart, causing the being to crumble into a pile of rocks and ice.

 

"Just a few tricks, huh?" Rielle said as Amaranth helped her back onto her feet. 

 

Amaranth replied with the same smirk Rielle gave him earlier. "Your turn,” he said as he rushed into the rest of the battle. Players who had already awoken were fighting the creatures to help defend those that were still helpless or asleep. Rielle watched as Hoelbrak's inhabitants picked up arms against these foes. This wasn't just some game event, she thought. These people were defending their homes. 

 

What if these were real people in the game? Did they live here now, in this city in the game? Could they call this their new home? Or was the real question: did they have a choice? These people who thought they were playing a game were now trapped in a world where they would have to fight for their survival.

 

All of these questions rushed through Rielle's mind and it wasn't until a group of the icy troops broke off from the fight and charged towards her did she snap out of it. She grabbed the bow from her back and drew an arrow from the quiver. When she did she felt a bolt of energy pulse through her arm. "Static electricity?" she muttered. Rielle quickly disagreed with herself. It felt like something more, but she didn't have time to think about it now. The skeletal figures drew closer and closer to her. Rielle nocked an arrow drew the bow. The effort she had to put into using the bow was apparent. Rielle had hunted with a bow and arrow in the real world when she was younger, but this felt the same as back then. She could feel the texture of the wood in the bow, the bits of feathers in the arrow. This wasn't a game, she thought. There's no way it could be this real.

 

Rielle fired off an arrow at one of the creatures and missed. "Damn." She drew another arrow and fired it higher. "Shit,” she muttered again. The creatures were coming towards her even more quickly now. "Great, I must've pissed them off. Alright..." Rielle took a deep breath. "Breathe. You can do this. You're a ranger, right? Surely this is second nature to you. Besides, what would  _ she _ think?" Rielle took a step back, straightened her bow arm, and nocked another arrow. Another pulse flowed through her right arm. She quickly pulled the bowstring back, with much more ease this time, and immediately let it loose toward the creature closest to her.

 

"There we go,” she said happily. The arrow pierced directly between the creature's eye sockets and it fell to the ground. Rielle continued to fire off arrows at them, hardly missing a shot. Before she knew it the creatures had all fallen, and Rielle felt her muscles relax. She looked out into the center of town where most of the fighting was taking place and waved at Amaranth. They were winning, it seemed. 

 

Rielle jogged down the ramp leading towards them when she heard a terrifying sound. This sound was all too familiar to her. The fighters all looked towards the skies in a panic. The clouds seem to part ways for what was coming.

 

"A dragon,” Rielle said under her breath. She fell to her knees. "A real dragon." Rielle was in awe, and also terrified. These creatures of fantasy that she had such an affinity for. One was actually here, in this realistic world she was stuck in. The memories of fighting Zhaitan flooded her mind.

 

Before she could react, another ice spire struck up through the ground in front of Rielle. A huge icespawn creature busted out of it. It raised a giant steel claymore into the air above her. In a panic Rielle shot an arrow at it blindly, but it simply nicked a chunk of ice from the massive creature's side. This was it, she thought. This was the early end she would meet in her wonderful world come true. The fantasy escape that she could call home was finally hers and now it was going to be taken away from her. Rielle closed her eyes and accepted the irony.

 

Rielle suddenly felt an intense feeling of heat whiz past her, and with a loud crash, the creature fell. She quickly stood up to examine the creature only to find an axe embedded in its head. With a sigh of relief Rielle couldn’t help but to smile. 

 

She turned around and looked up the hill only to find a figure standing there with another axe in hand. It was a man with fair skin wearing a chainmail suit of armour. The man had a cyan mohawk and goatee with a big grin on his face.

 

"Hey Blaze!" Rielle yelled at the man. "Looks like that ice guy took your axe from you."

 

The man raised his other axe towards the sky. "Then I, the Lord of the Blaze, will UNSHEATHE IT FROM HIS SKULL!"

 


	3. Zero Chill

Chapter 3 - Zero Chill

 

The axe-wielding warrior slowly walked towards Rielle and the enemy he had just slain to save her. She immediately recognized him as the one and only, the Lord of the Blaze. He was her second officer of the DRGN, known as the Blaze Dragon to a select few, or simply Blaze to everyone else. He was a long time friend of Rielle's and someone she always knew she could trust. In GW2 he played a warrior with two flaming axes and a full set of heavy armour. Blaze was always on the front lines, rallying everyone in the fight. He glanced at Rielle and gave her a nod before picking the axe out of the enemy's corpse.

 

"Long time, no see, huh?" Rielle said with her hand on her hip. Before she could say anything else, another icy skeleton rushed towards them. "Blaze, look out!" Rielle shouted. 

 

He simply remained there, not moving an inch. The skeleton brought his sword up as it got within striking distance of Blaze. Blaze shifted his feet, quickly adjusting his stance, and a small flame cracked across the surface of his axes. In one flawless motion, Blaze brought one axe up through the enemy's torso, lifting it completely off its feet. Before the foe fell to the ground Blaze's other axe was brought down with so much fury it cleaved through the enemy's skull and pummeled it's body into the ground. Blaze returned to his stoic posture and under his breath said in a sarcastic tone, "Just blaze." He quickly then bolted off into the fray of battle.

 

Rielle's hand returned to her hip. "Just blaze,” she repeated with a laugh. "Just like old times, it seems." She nocked an arrow and chased after Blaze into the battle.

 

The battle continued as the dragon circled overhead. Rielle wondered if it was here for the show, or if it had the capacity to orchestrate this entire thing. Another roar from the majestic beast pierced their ears. The dragon swooped up into the clouds for a moment and the frozen minions paused. "They've stopped! The dragon's fled and we've won!" a townsperson yelled.

 

There was no way it was that simple.

 

The clouds seemed to part at the dragon's command. It dove towards the earth with so much speed it was blinding. The dragon quickly spread its wings and a colossal gust shook the entire town. Most of the warriors were knocked off of their feet, and the icy creatures continued their attack.

 

Within this moment Rielle noticed something odd. She glanced up at the dragon and it almost looked like someone was riding it. The figure atop the beast noticed her and raised its sword in the air. Rielle started running for the dragon, which swooped towards her. She tripped in the snow. "Damn it all, I just can't win,” she swore. Another roar filled the skies and the rider dismounted from the flying creature. Rielle felt it shake the ground as the armoured figure landed nearby. It had pale skin and armour that resembled the frost dragon it was riding. The dragon knight pointed a finger at Rielle and then slowly drew its sword. The knight wielded a translucent greatsword that seemed to be made from ice and snow itself and a cold mist surrounded its blade.

 

Rielle quickly jumped to her feet, bow and arrow together in hand. She drew the bow back aimed at the knight. The enemy charged at her, ready to impale Rielle with the frozen blade. She was just barely able to dodge the attack and jumped back. An arrow was let loose from the bow and it hit dead on at the knight's armour but simply ricocheted off of the cold chestplate. 

 

_ And of course I'll have to find a weak point. Great, _ Rielle quickly thought.

The knight attacked again, more swiftly and more powerfully each and every time. Rielle escaped the attacks and countered each time with an arrow that did seemingly nothing.  _ The arrows are distracting enough, but they just aren't doing shit! _ she thought.

 

Another attack was thrown at her, this time catching her left thigh. Rielle winced at the pain, confused. This was real pain and not just a simulation or a health bar being damaged. It was her being physically hurt and actually feeling the pain. Rielle reached for another arrow to quickly counter but found her quiver to be empty. The knight’s sword was heading for her and there was not enough time to evade. She grabbed the bow with both hand and raised it in a meaningless attempt to block the attack. The bow snapped with ease under the frozen blade, and the knight paused its attacks. It stepped back and let out a corrupted laugh. The tones it spoke in seemed to bend or warp with an unnatural resonance, like a reverb was almost present in its voice.

 

Thoughts screamed throughout Rielle's mind.  _ Shit! I need a weapon. I need a weapon. I can't win like this. I need a weapon or I'm going to die. _ The dragon knight rushed in for another attack and Rielle closed her eyes. 

 

Another spark shot through her arm. Adrenaline pumping, Rielle let instinct kick in and stopped thinking. The knight chopped vertically and she quickly twisted herself sideways, her right shoulder facing her enemy. Rielle sent the palm of her left hand into the knight's throat. Her attack altered its posture and she saw the knight's grip on his weapon slightly loosen.  _ Disarm him! _ she heard shoot through her mind. Rielle jabbed the knight's wrist with one hand and grabbed the icy blade's handle with the other. She felt a sharp pain in her arm as a multitude of sparks of energy surrounded her hand. They quickly shot up her arm and into her shoulder, the pain causing her to tense up and lose her balance. The knight growled viciously and sent a fist into her abdomen knocking her to the ground.

 

Rielle laid there clutching her waist and coughed, droplets of blood splattering on the ground before her. The dragon knight scoffed and kicked a mass of snow onto her. It growled and turned away towards the rest of the battle, no longer showing interest it its seemingly defeated foe.

 

She could feel her mind fading a bit and her vision going in and out of focus.  _ Am I dying? _ Rielle thought.  _ This isn't a game anymore. This is real. This world we're in is somehow real and here I lie dying in it. Hah. So it goes, I guess. _

 

She closed her eyes and resigned herself to death, but she was surprised to find that it was not memories of her life that flashed through her mind, but rather images of swords. The different makes and designs. The components and construction of a blade.  _ What's going on? What's wrong with me? _ she thought. This bizarre feeling overwhelmed her and she opened her eyes again. A bright blue light in her chest began glowing underneath her skin. The light started to spread up into her arm, creating etchings that looked like circuits. The energy continued to pulse down these circuits in her skin and eventually reached her arm. The pain in her body began to numb and she felt the will to stand back up. Brushing off the snow with her glowing right arm, Rielle stood again and coughed up the last chunk of blood in her throat.

 

The dragon knight noticed her revival and turned to Rielle once again. It raised the visor of its helm and out came a demonic voice. "I gave you a chance and spared you, and yet here you stand again. If you wish to die, woman, then I will not hesitate to grant your last wish."

 

As the knight headed towards her again, it hesitated. Rielle raised her glowing right arm in front of her, the circuits pulsing rapidly. Images of swords flooded her mind again as she thought to herself,  _ I need a weapon. No, I  _ have _ a weapon. _

 

The light began to manifest itself in the palm of her hand. Rielle felt an intense warm feeling in her chest as the light glowed brighter and brighter. She closed her eyes, and saw an image of a blade forming in her mind. Rielle let out a heavy breath and said aloud, "Let my flesh and bone create this weapon, and my soul be the fire that binds it!"

 

Within her hand, a longsword was created. She gripped it tightly. The blade was crude in design with rough edges and an unpolished look but was structurally solid and sharp. The circuits in her arm and chest dimmed, but remained permanent with a faint glow. The dragon knight hesitated no longer and let out a war cry of his own. He rushed forward at Rielle, but this time she was able to block the icy blade with her own. She quickly spun her blade around his, creating an opening. Rielle's sword pierced his armour, driving it through his abdomen. 

 

"Look, we match,” she said sarcastically, and the knight growled at her again. They continued to exchange attacks, and Rielle managed to parry each one. A nick here, a cut there. She was slowly wearing him down.

_ I need to end this quick _ , Rielle thought as she stepped back.

 

A raw scream of rage tore from the dragon knight’s throat. He thrusted the icy blade at her, but she jumped into the air, landing on the blade itself. Rielle quickly leapt from the giant greatsword, and with one final swing brought her own blade down into the knight's collar bone. The attack cut through all the way to its chest, and the knight fell to the ground. Rielle pulled back her blade and stabbed it through her opponent’s helm, finishing him off for good.

 

She took a few steps toward the rest of the battle and fell to her knees with exhaustion. More and more of the dragon's icy minions continued to appear from the spires and through the gates of Hoelbrak. Rielle took a heavy breath and said to herself, "There's no way. There's too many."

 

A notification appeared in front of her like an in-game menu. "Accept party invite?" it read. Confused, Rielle tapped the "yes" window in front of her. Two health bars appeared in the corner of her vision. One said “Lord of the Blaze” and was about half full, and the other for Amaranth that was slowly refilling.

 

She heard Amaranth's voice in her ear even though he was nowhere nearby. "Rielle! Are you alright? We saw a flash of light and-"

 

"We thought maybe you'd exploded or something!" she heard Blaze yell in her ear.

 

"You'll have that, I guess,” Rielle replied.

 

"At any rate, we need to get out of here. What even is this game?" Amaranth said. Rielle saw the two heading towards her and Blaze motioned towards one of the town gates.

 

"We need to bail!" Blaze yelled as they got close to her. "This is going nowhere and I don't feel like dying today!"

 

As they ran, Amaranth glanced at the blade in Rielle's hand and then gave her a curious look. She simply shrugged. After fighting a few more minions, the trio made it out of the town’s exit and towards a circular archway with a beam of light radiating from it. "Do those work?" Rielle shouted. The structure resembled the waypoints from Guild Wars 2, a transportation system that let you transport your party to places that you've already been through a network of magic nodes scattered through Tyria. 

 

The two both put their hands on Rielle's shoulders, and Amaranth raised his arm towards the glowing structure. An image of Hoelbrak flashed in her eyes and suddenly Rielle found herself in a forested area. The ruins of a small castle were nearby. They had been teleported to the ruins of their former guild hall, DRGN Headquarters.

 


	4. Re-established

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any reference to existing names or places is purely coincidental.

Chapter 4: Re-established

 

"I passed this place on my way to you guys,” Amaranth said smugly. The trio stood at the ruins of a large castle. There were a lot of parts of the structure still intact, although the walls and barricades were beginning to crumble, but the main hall and a couple of rooms seemed to be usable. The doors creaked as they pushed their way in. 

 

"Hello?" Amaranth asked into the empty hall. 

 

No answers were heard. The former guild hall seemed completely abandoned as if nobody had used it since they last logged in to Guild Wars 2.

 

Rielle had so many memories of this place. Even though she originally founded their guild in Lion's Arch, this was where the three of them called home. So many meetings were held in this hall. So many times where they goofed off and had a bit of rest and relaxation in between the quests and adventures. When playing the game those few years ago, Rielle would almost routinely come here before logging out. It made her feel that "Rielle Dragonborn" actually had a home in the game.

Blaze flipped an overturned table on the floor back onto its legs. "Alrighty then! So, boss-lady, what's our first order of business as the real actual DRGN in this real actual world that they lied about being a not-real game thing?"

 

"Well," Rielle began with a sigh. "I'm not a hundred percent sure we can call ourselves just that yet." The other two gave her a confused look and Rielle opened a menu in front of her. "It currently says we need to register ourselves as an official guild. Off to Lion's Arch then?"

 

"Aw, but we just got home!" Blaze said as he plopped himself into a wooden chair. The chair very quickly snapped a leg and collapsed under his weight as soon as he did.

 

Amaranth slowly walked towards Rielle with a curious look. "And you, Miss Dragonborn, aren't getting off so easily." He quickly grabbed her hand looked at it closely. The circuits etched into her skin pulsed as if reacting to the attention. 

 

"I..." Rielle stuttered. "You're talking about the sword, right?"

 

Blaze picked himself off of the floor. "Yeah! Originally I saw you with a bow. Then some scary guy shows up and y'all are fighting and shit and the next thing I know you're on the ground with Mr. Scary Iceman looming over you. I thought ya died or something!"

 

"That was when we both saw the light, literally" Amaranth interrupted. "In between my own battles I saw you wielding a sword and quickly defeating your foe. What changed? Where did the sword come from? What is this magic that's carved its permanent residency into your arm?"

 

Rielle looked at the floor and Amaranth let her arm go. "I... I'm not completely sure. I thought I was dead... That was when I was able to open my eyes again and I saw this... power, I guess? ...beginning to flow out me. When I was fighting the knight I briefly held onto the hilt of his sword. Images of swords began to flood my mind like I had read the weapon. It was bizarre."

 

"So then after reading it you were able to make one through some ability?"

 

"I'm guessing so,” Rielle replied. 

 

Amaranth sighed. "There's so much we don't know yet." The three of them nodded in unison.

 

"By the way, Salad,” Blaze started as he put a hand on Amaranth's shoulder.

 

"Please don't call me that."

 

"Aw, but you're my little head of romaine lettuce! Wait, like a red cabbage! Or no... Shit, what other leafy vegetables are purple?"

 

Rielle laughed, "Oh, like a red onion!"

 

"Don't add to this, Rielle!" Amaranth barked.

 

"Anyway," Blaze continued. "How did you end up getting to Hoelbrak to find Sleeping Beauty over here?"

 

Amaranth rolled his eyes at him. "Jealous that you weren't the one sleeping, Blaze?" 

 

"Oh, you wound me, sir!" Blaze said dramatically.

 

"Heh. So about that... I told you I didn't "wake" at all, right? I started my computer just as all this was scheduled to go down and then I found myself in the Grove. There I saw everyone sleeping throughout the streets. Well, that's not the whole story, I'm afraid." Amaranth opened a menu in front of him with a list of messages on it. "You see, as I was confused, slightly panicked, and rudely forced to be naked I ran into someone in town."

 

"Forced to be naked?", both Blaze and Rielle said, surprised.

 

"Never mind that. What's important was who I met... and that I later found some clothes and equipment before leaving... But more importantly, this person! They were human, that much I could tell. However they were wearing this long black cloak with a hood and I believe they had a shortsword on their belt?"

 

Blaze butted in, "And they pointed off into some random direction and vanished? You then got a mail message saying to go to Hoelbrak?"

 

Amaranth had this startled look on his face. "H-how did you know that?"

 

"Because the same thing happened to me, minus the being naked part,” Blaze replied. "I actually woke in a very, very warm tunnel filled with lava and Destroyers. The mysterious cloaked person helped me fight off a few and then sent me the message. Also it was weird because I used this fire attack on accident with one o' my axes and the Destroyers stopped attacking me? They backed off into their li’l tunnels and then one followed me out of the main shaft. Hadda' shoo him back into his home, the little guy."

 

"Aw, you made a friend,” Rielle said with excitement. "I want a little lava friend.” The others simply stared at her, blinking. She coughed. “So, anyway, you two mean to tell me you both ran into the same player probably only an hour or two apart and they specifically told you to come to Hoelbrak? And that lucky me would be there? So conveniently all three of us would be together for some awful attack to happen and us to have to run for our lives?"

 

"To be honest, Rielle," Amaranth started, "Even though we had to retreat, if we hadn't had been there, even more people could have died. Not that that's going to help you sleep at night or anything."

 

"Way to be full of sunshine and rainbows there, Leafy,” Blaze said. "Well, not that we shouldn't continue this great conversation about death and stuff, but we should probably head to Lion's Arch before it gets too late. We both can waypoint there, right?"

 

"Yeah, we both must have passed through there before heading to Hoelbrak,”Amaranth replied. "Rielle's the only one that hasn't yet. Oh, and why do I have to be Leafy? At least call me something more appropriate."

 

"What? Like Prickly or Horny? Heh,” Blaze laughed.

 

Rielle joined in again, "Nah! He's totally a branch head. Maybe like Twiggy?"

 

"It's decided then. From now on you'll be called Twiggles McPrickbranch."

 

Amaranth’s shoulders dropped. "You should have left me in Hoelbrak."

 

The two continued to laugh as Amaranth couldn't sigh hard enough to express his pain, and they waypointed to Lion's Arch.

 

With another flash of light the three found themselves in Lion's Arch, a city of trade and culture. In Guild Wars 1 it was a place of refuge for the humans of Ascalon. In Guild Wars 2, set many years later, it was a city built upon those ruins by merchants and pirates. The structures and buildings were a strange mixture of the still-standing old civilization and a hybrid of ship parts and modern designs by the Charr. It was a highway, a hub for all of the major cities, and most importantly, the biggest bazaar Tyria's ever seen.

 

A small group of people were crowded around the guild registry office. Rielle found their place in line and quickly made it to the counter. "Um, excuse me. We'd like to re-register a guild that was in Guild Wars 2."

 

The gentlemen at the counter responded in a very kind tone. "No problem, Miss Rielle. I've already gotten your character card as you approached and I can verify any guild you were a part of in the game." 

 

"The guild's name was "Eternal Dragonborn" and these two behind me were my officers,” Rielle replied.

 

The man at the counter's face lit up and he smiled. "Well I'm very happy to help you reestablish your guild, Miss. I can't state enough how we're all extremely happy to see you three." The man looked directly into her eyes and whispered, "Please. You have to do something." The man went back to his previous tone. "Yes, thank you, Miss. Don't worry, all of the fees and paperwork have been taken care of. Now, have a great day!" 

 

As the three walked away from the office Rielle looked back and Blaze and Amaranth and said, "Man, that was bizarre."

 

"Do you think he was an NPC or...?", Amaranth asked.

 

"I'm still not sure if that's possible. Although-” Rielle began, before she was interrupted.

 

"Hey! You there! Did I hear you at the counter correctly?" A young man approached them with his arms crossed. "Did you three just register under the name DRGN? Must be pretty easy to get into a new game and pretend to be heroes from the previous one. Couldn't even come up with your own guild name? Like, you had to steal someone else's tag and everything?"

 

Rielle began to get defensive when someone else showed up. "Hey man, lay off,” he said as he got in the other player's face. "People have similar guild names all of the time, so shove it." The other player murmured something and ran off.

 

"Sorry about all that. Lion's Arch hasn't been very friendly lately and you've shown up in the middle of it. I'm from LGN by the way. So you guys just made a guild, right?"

 

"Uhh, yeah. Sure we did,” Rielle said dismissively with a nod.

 

"Well, good luck to you! Conveniently enough for you, all the big guilds are getting together and having a huge public meeting. You should come on over if you're free." The man from LGN quickly walked off before they could say anything.

 

"Well, that certainly was interesting,” Amaranth said. "Should we bother?"

 

Rielle sighed and motioned the trio towards the center of town. "Couldn't hurt, I guess. It's not like we're some fancy legendary guild or anything apparently, right?" Rielle laughed.

 

Blaze simply replied with a "Meh."

 


	5. Lion's Den

Chapter 5: Lion’s Den

 

In the center of Lion's Arch stood a giant statue of, naturally, a roaring lion. The great statue had seen better days though, and was a bit worse looking than the party remembered. Gathered around the statue was a large crowd of people, some with armour and weapons, some with cloaks and staves, and others just in casual attire. This meeting called for those in guilds and those guild-less, so it seemed that most of the city showed up at the gathering.

 

As the crowd shuffled and moved closer someone bumped into Blaze. It was a mage of average height and build with dark skin. What stood out about him, though, was his black and red hair. It was sleek, shiny, and covered most of the man's face. He flipped his hair and uncovered one of his eyes to look up at Blaze, who towered over him by at least a foot. The mage quickly looked down at his feet and a faint, "My apologies, sir," came out of him. Blaze simply grumbled at the mage. Another man who was a bit shorter and a bit more stocky rushed over to the mage and grabbed his arm.

 

"What are you doing? That guy's in a guild! At this rate nobody's going to take us!" the mage's friend said. His friend wore bits of light platemail and had a greatsword on his back. He had shorter black hair and slightly darker skin than his mage companion. "Our mistake, sorry!" the warrior said to Blaze and the group. He tightened his grip on the mage's arm. "Come on, let's get out of here before this guy does us in." The two quickly disappeared into the crowd.

 

A loud whistle was heard and members of the crowd started cheering. Atop a platform in front of the lion statue was a woman in huge plate armour with a sword and shield on her back. Rielle's eyes widened. 

 

"Who's that one?", Blaze asked. 

 

"I... I know her.", Rielle replied.

 

The woman in armour began to address the crowd. "Welcome all! Welcome to this glorious gathering of guilds and adventurers!" The crowd cheered again. "We have called this meeting for everyone to get their bearings a bit and help figure out what's going on since we've all came here." The crowd very quickly got quiet.

 

"I am Janess Oathkeeper, leader of the guild Blood Oath. Here with me is the leader of LGN, Ruric Snowcaller. I'm afraid we've brought you all here bearing grave news that some of you may have already discovered."

 

Janess started again. "This world... This wonderful and beautiful world we've all found ourselves in, the world we once knew as Tyria, the land that existed in a game called Guild Wars, is no longer that. It seems that we, the players, now  _ really  _ exist in the world of Tyria from the game and it is now our reality."

 

Whispers among the crowd started. Ruric stood and began speaking to the people. "That is only but one possible theory." The crowd quieted again. "Our other assumption is this: Our world, the one that we all inhabited no more than three days ago, has now transmuted into a world that resembled the one from the game that we're familiar with. That would also mean that the rules and laws of our world have now bent to the ones of the game. As you can tell, magic or mana or what have you has awoken in a lot of us, and the world around us. It has reshaped the very fabric that made up our reality, yet how or why is still completely unknown to us."

 

"One thing is true, however, " Janess stated. "Our world's entire population is here within Tyria, not just those who had bought the ‘Game’ and attempted to log in. I personally have proof of this fact. My girlfriend, who had never purchased the ‘Game’ or even owned a gaming computer, has been reunited with me here as well."

 

Ruric took over again. "This is why we have gathered you all here. I, from this moment on, vow that the combat guild LGN will find answers for the people and either defeat whomever it was that has trapped us here or bring peace to our new world!" 

 

The crowded roared once again.

 

"Here today are the original Dragon-slaying guilds from Guild Wars 2. We, LGN who had defeated the legendary Jormag!" A large number of the crowd raised weapons in the air and cheered. "Also here are Blood Oath, who had defeated Kralkatorric!" A smaller section of the crowd took a bow in front of the others. "And let's not forget HOTTS who defeated Primordus!" In the back of the crowd a group of people holding torches jumped and cheered. 

 

"Because they were HOTTER!" one of them yelled.

 

The cheering calmed and Janess controlled the audience again. "There is one more guild we're missing, though. This brave three-person guild defeated the mighty Zhaitan and his undead hoard in Orr all that time ago. If anyone at all has any information on the guild the Eternal Dragonborn, please let us know immediately." Within the crowd the member of LGN that had led Rielle and her friends to the meeting quickly tried to look for them. At this point, however, they had already left the gathering completely unnoticed.

After escaping the gathering and it eventually dissipating, the trio found themselves a pub and planted themselves at a booth. A stressful and awkward silence hovered over them in the noisy pub. When a waitress made her way over to their table and asked their order, the three all immediately asked for "something strong". The waitress laughed and told them she'd be back with their house special.

 

"So..." Blaze started.

 

"Yeah..." Amaranth replied. 

 

Rielle just sighed.

 

The three quietly sat and downed their drinks. Nearly 20 minutes went by, but it felt like an eternity, until a commotion on the other side of the room caught their attention. It was the two that ran into them before, the warrior and the mage, talking to a group of HOTTS members. 

 

"We're sorry, but we really really can't take any more newbies. We're fully staffed as it is, with all of our senior members taking one or two apprentices apiece." 

 

The two looked completely defeated and turned to leave the pub. With a loud grumble, Blaze slammed his drink on the table, grabbed Rielle, and hurried over to the two. Amaranth quickly followed with a confused look on his face.

 

"Oi,” Blaze said as he approached them. The two quickly recognized him and instantly looked like they had seen a ghost.

 

The warrior waved his hands in front of him. "Hey man, we totally sorry we ran into you earlier and we didn't mean anything by it, I swear! Nox, tell the nice man in full armour with the scary axes that we're sorry."

Amaranth interrupted the mage before he could say anything. "So it would seem that you two are looking to join up with a guild. Two guys new to Tyria who got sucked up in all this unknowingly?"

 

The two seemed to relax a bit and the mage spoke. "That'd be us, believe it or not."

 

"Tell ya' what,” Blaze began. "Follow us outside for a bit and it might be of interest to ya."

 

A shout was heard from the waitress standing at the bar. "Hey, you with the blue hair! You’d better not be thinkin' of leavin' without payin'!"

 

Blaze looked at the warrior and the mage. "Go pick that up for us, would ya'?" 

 

The warrior grumbled and tossed a bag of coins over to the waitress. "Come back again, hun!" the waitress shouted with coin in hand.

 

The group sat by a fountain outside of the pub. Rielle sat with both her arms and legs crossed, knowing exactly where this was going.

 

"By the way,” the warrior started, "Name's Goden and I'm a guardian class. I specialize in greatswords and buffing skills for myself and the party."

 

"Guardian, eh?" Blaze grumbled. "That explains the lack of fury in your eyes. I had you pegged as a warrior who couldn't hold a sword with the right end. Guardian though? You'll do fine."

 

"Thanks… I think?" Goden replied. "Anyway, my friend here's name is Nox and he's some type of mage. We're not exactly sure what, but we have reason to believe he's a Necromancer."

 

"That's fair," Amaranth noted. "So, Rielle, should we?" 

 

Rielle sighed.

 

Blaze stood up and grabbed Nox and Goden. "That settles it, then!"

 

"Settles what, may I ask?" Nox said giving Blaze a look.

 

"Your recruitment, that is!" Blaze said proudly.

 

"Wait, you mean?" Goden said as his face lit up. "You're going to let us join your guild? Are you for real? What's your guild name? How many people do you have? Are you sure? Is this okay? We're not going to be a bother to you?"

 

"As long as our leader says it's okay," Amaranth said, and the group all turned to Rielle.

 

"Fine,” she said, sighing. "Let's head back, already. Okay?"

 

With a big grin on both Goden's and Blaze's faces, Blaze waypointed the group back to DRGN HQ.

As they arrived at the somewhat falling apart ruins of their headquarters, Nox let out a small chuckle. "This is your HQ?" the mage blurted out.

 

"It's seen better days," Rielle admitted.

 

"Shut your face, Nox. It's better than the last place we stayed at. And at least here you won’t accidentally resurrect some farmer's dead grandfather in front of him,” Goden remarked.

 

"He lived a good life. Short, but good,” Nox commented.

 

The group made their way inside and sat at a broken table. Amaranth opened an inventory menu in front of him and selected something. A book appeared in front of him and he tossed it at Nox. "Homework," Amaranth laughed. "In the off chance I was able to learn skills outside of my class, I picked this up in Lion's Arch. You'll need it more than I will, it seems. There will be a quiz on chapters 1 through 15 in the morning and I expect your hypothesis on Corpse Muscle Regeneration Theory by the end of the week." Nox's eyes grew huge as he stared at the thick book.

 

"And you, Mr. Greatsword, had better go get some sleep for the night,” Blaze remarked at Goden. "In the morning we're goin' out for a long hike through the jungles of Caledon Forest and into Kessex Hills. There will be no time for breaks either 'cause we'll have to be back here by dinner. It'll be rough! It'll be tough! It'll put hair on yer chest!"

 

"Ah, the smell of burnt chest hair. Just what we need, Blaze,” Rielle said sarcastically, and the whole party laughed.

It was long after the sun went down and the rest of the guild had gone to sleep. Rielle was still restless from everything that had happened. There was too much on her mind for sleep, yet her body was sore and tired. Unable to relax she headed out onto the castle walls and stared off out to the sea. The sight of the bay and the sound of the ocean always helped her relax and think.

 

She spent a few moments here, taking a deep breath and trying to relax. Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. Rielle quickly turned around and thought she saw someone in her peripheral vision.  _ Was it the cloaked figure Blaze and Amar met? _ she thought. Rielle took another deep breath and figured nobody was actually there. "Mind must be playing tricks on me, I guess." She sighed.

 

Rielle turned around again to look out at the sea, and standing in front of her was Nox. "By the gods!" She jumped. "What in the hell are you sneaking up on me like that for?"

 

"Can't sleep?" Nox asked. 

 

"Nope. You either?" she replied.

 

"I don't get a lot of sleep anyway. I'm always up at these late hours. It's when I feel like I can focus on my thoughts,” he told her.

 

"Oh. Well, um..." Rielle hesitated, a bit creeped out by the necromancer. She sighed again and proceeded to sit against the railing. She offered him a seat near her. "Want to watch the sunrise together?"

 

A few hours passed and the sun began to show over the horizon. "Hey look, Rielle, the sun's coming up,” Nox said. A few feet away she was curled up asleep on the stone wall. Nox began singing to himself, "Here comes the sun, dodo doo doo."

 


	6. Repose in Claypool

Chapter 6: Repose in Claypool

 

After a long day of training in forested areas around DRGN HQ, the group headed north to a small village just south of Queensdale.

 

"Is this where I think it is, Blaze?" Rielle asked.

 

In the corner of the village were groups of guards all practicing different combat scenarios. Over towards the guards you could hear a man yelling to a line of riflemen, "HOLD! ...HOLD! ...FIRE!"

 

"Yer damn right it is!" Blaze replied. Goden and Nox looked completely confused.

 

"I vaguely remember this place?" Amaranth began. "But if the guards are all here to train, doesn't that mean these guards are all people like us? Why would they be mimicking something the generic NPCs used to do?"

 

Rielle and the group headed closer to the riflemen. "That's definitely the guy from the game. There's no mistaking it. That's him. It's got to be."

 

"Now wait a bloody moment,” Blaze barked. "Ya mean to tell me that this guy of ours is both a person  _ and _ from the game? Now Rielle, I know ya an' Amaranth are really into trying to figure out what's been going on, but I'm starting to think we might have to start takin' things for what they seem."

 

Amaranth and Rielle both glared at him with crossed arms.

 

"Meh,” Blaze said as he led them out of the main part of the village and down a hill. "Now, this isn't why I brought us 'ere." 

 

The group quickly found themselves at a small lake at the base of a mountainside. There was a great waterfall that poured off of the cliffside and into the lake itself. A small hut sat near the base of the falls.

 

"Ya see, we've had such a rough couple weeks o' training that I thought I'd reward ya with a nice day of easy relaxin'! I even threatened the locals to not come by the rest of the day, it was great!" Blaze said with a huge grin. Goden and Nox backed away slowly.

 

Amaranth tossed each of them a small bag. "Our lovely friend Blaze here sent me out to get all of us swimsuits in Divinity's Reach yesterday, so sadly I was in on the surprise. So... Surprise!" The guys went two at a time into the small hut to change into their swimsuits. Rielle sat at the edge of the lake with her toes dipped in the water, clenching the bag Amaranth gave her.

 

Blaze and Amaranth walked down the small pier towards the rest of the group after the other two men changed. The four of them simultaneously shot Rielle a look as she continued to sit at the edge of the water. "In the evening, I saw with you... The orange sun..." she sang under her breath while staring into the water.

 

"Oi, Rielle!" Blaze shouted as he pointed towards the hut. "Your turn!"

 

Her face grew red as she pouted. "Oh, do I have to?"

 

"Of course you do! It's no fun unless all of us get to have a swim!"

 

Rielle sighed immensely and made her way up to the hut. A few moments passed but she didn't return. The boys laughed as Goden joked about her getting lost inside.

 

"I'm not coming out!" the boys heard come from the hut.

 

"Get ya arse out here!" Blaze shouted back.

 

"Shove it!"

 

"Aw, come now, Rielle. Don't be embarrassed! We're all friends here!" Goden shouted.

 

The door to the hut slammed open. Rielle slowly walked down the pier, her face flushed as red as it could be. She was wearing a sky blue bikini with a half skirt attached to the bottoms. Without her usual armour on it was apparent how much of the mana circuits covered her chest and down through her arm. It was safe to assume this wasn't what she was embarrassed about, however.

 

"If any of you idiots stare any longer I'm going to kill you,” Rielle sneered.

 

"Hey now, Rielle you actually look pretty good in that!" Nox blurted out. But before he could finish the statement, an arrow whizzed past his head.

 

Rielle's bow was pointed at him with another arrow docked and ready to fire. "Aaaaaand, what's the supposed to mean exactly? What do you mean 'actually'?"

 

The group laughed and Rielle eventually calmed down. Slowly getting over her self-consciousness, she was able to relax with the rest of them. A few hours and almost an entire keg of ale later they decided it was time to head back home.

 

As soon as they made it back, Goden and Nox passed out on the Main Hall's floor. "Lightweights..." Blaze mumbled as he carried another two bottles of ale back to his chambers.

 

"Hey wait up!" Amaranth said as he walked in behind them. "There was a note with one of the guards. I guess some unnamed messenger dropped it off to the DRGN specifically."

 

"Did the other guilds finally figure us out, I wonder?", Rielle remarked. "Or do you think it was from our cloaked friend?"

 

Amaranth shook his head. "No, it looks more official than that. Oh shit, look! Apparently the first dungeon is opening up in less than a month for all players."

 

"It says the minimum level is 35?" Rielle noted. She brought up the guild's roster to recall everyone's levels. "Nox is only 13... Goden is almost 16... I'm level 17... Amar is 19... and damn, Blaze you're level 21 already!"

 

Blaze nodded. "Hell yeah!"

 

"Well, this is it, then,” Rielle said as she sat on the table. "Our first real challenge. Training starts tomorrow, lads. Hopefully we can pick up the pace and get us all to where we need to be to get to that dungeon first."

 

Blaze and Amaranth put their hands together towards Rielle, both with a smirk on their faces. She brought her hand in as well and gave them a nod.

"For the DRGN!"

 


	7. Challenge On the Other Side

Chapter 7: Challenge On The Other Side

 

The rumors of the first dungeon opening were just what they needed to focus on leveling up. It was a long and grueling few weeks, but they met their goal the day after its Grand Opening. When they decided they were ready, the five of them meet in an area called the Fields of Ruin.

 

Back when it was really a game, in GW2, this area fell victim to an Elder Dragon's all-consuming magic directly. It spread its special blend of corruption and seared the earth itself. The Brand ran all the way from here to south in the Crystal Desert, many kilometers away. In the heart of this Brand is where the Elder Dragon Kralkatorric is thought to still reside.

 

In the Fields, the guardsmen and local adventurers were keeping the corrupted creatures at bay within the Brand itself. In the northernmost part of the area, a large group of people gathered. There were large Charr warships, Asuran war-golems, and other technology that was hoped to be the edge these people needed to clear the dungeon.

 

The DRGN waded through the camps and groups of people and made it to the dungeon's entrance. It wasn't what they had expected, however. Usually the dungeons in the game were a cave or ruins or a large area closed of for the specific event. This was completely different, however. It was a large archway made of black stones that was about 20 meters tall. It resembled looking through a fogged mirror or a cold window in the middle of winter.

 

Rielle brought up a registration window for the dungeon and began to sign up their group for the next raid. A couple of Charr warriors and a Sylvari mage interrupted them at the gate.

"So you're think you're the next group to attempt this death gate, huh?" one of the Charr said.

 

"They're more likely the next group to die,” the other Charr scoffed. This one seemed older and had heavier armour on. He also wore a blindfold. Rielle ignored them and continued with registration.

 

"Oh, the hell do you think you are anyway? There's been people here for more than 48 hours,” the armoured Charr said.

 

"So why haven't they ran the dungeon yet?" Goden interrupted. 

 

"There's obviously people sitting around, yet none of them seem eager to jump in," Amaranth added.

 

The old Charr began again, "I'll put it simply for you in hope that you get the right idea as well. Nobody's come back out of the gate. Every group that's gone in has come up 'defeated' on the guild registry and not seen again."

 

"We get it, you old furrball,” Nox grumbled. "Things are spooky and dangerous. Now let us pass."

 

The Charr let out a sigh. "If that is your wish, then so be it. May I at least ask your names, or at the very least, the name of your guild?"

 

Blaze glanced at Rielle and she gave him a nod of approval. "We're the Eternal Dragonborn, sir,” he said.

 

The old Charr's brow clenched above his blindfold. He put his fist to his chest and gave a small bow towards them. Blaze, Amaranth, and Rielle returned the gesture.

 

The Charr let them pass, and one by one they unsheathed their weapons and stood in front of the gate. Nox, who wore a tight black outfit, was first to step forward. Small belts and chains hung from his pants and he wore a black leather bomber jacket. He wielded two twin hook-bladed daggers and had many smaller daggers attached to his belt. The red tips of his blackish hair had been getting brighter the more he practiced his blood magic.

 

Goden was stood next to him. He donned fitted chainmail with a loose red cloak over it. He had a long thin greatsword that had black wings as the hilt. The thin blade was perfect for channeling his light-based abilities and quickly parrying against attacks on the front line.

 

Amaranth was next in the line. The sylvari had more of a dapper appearance and didn't wear much armour. His black and deep purple suit consisted of a tailored pants and vest combo with a loose and ruffled shirt underneath. He wielded a rapier with not much of a hilt at all and another smaller sword for parries and back-stabs.

 

Blaze's presence seemed warmer than usual, and you could feel the heat radiating from him. His fury and and rage in battle was the source of this powerful flame. Blaze wore plated greaves and boots with a chainmail top that had a few tears in it. A large pauldron sat on his left shoulder, though his right arm remained bare down to his gauntlets. He, of course, wielded his twin axes that covered themselves with flame as soon as they met his hands.

 

Finally, Rielle stood with them, eager to walk through the bizarre gate. She wore a short jacked with bracers over her sleeves and a tight scarf to cover the circuits on her chest. Grabbing the bow on the back, she gave the rest of her guys a nod, and together the five of them walked through the gate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure if the mass block of text that was the character descriptions was something that I wanted to do but I felt like since there was such a jump in the character's levels that it kind of gave the reader an idea of their equipment getting better....
> 
> ...or whatever?


	8. Flames in the Black City

Chapter 8: Flames in the Black City

 

The party made their way through the veil of the mirrored gate, the cold surface enveloping their bodies in a chill. On the other side of the gate they found themselves in a most familiar and bizarre location that they didn't expect.

 

A city. It was a real modern day looking city from the real world, a world they had almost forgotten. The skyscrapers were huge and the streets were empty. The street lamps started to flicker on as the sun began to set.

 

"Is this... real?" Nox asked in a faint voice that almost cracked.

 

"It's so empty. Where is everyone?" Amaranth began to mutter. "Are we back home? This doesn't make any sense. How are we even here?"

 

They began down the street from the archway. The city seemed empty. Dead. A shell of what it once was. 

 

Blaze let a cry of, "Oiiiiii!!!!" and Rielle smacked him on the arm. 

 

"Hey! Don't do that!" she whispered.

 

The sun was sinking below the horizon and the darkness around them grew deeper. Everything seemed to be casting a shadow in their direction.

 

"Careful. Something doesn't seem right." Goden pointed out.

 

"Yeah, believe it or not, we get that,” Nox barked at him. A shadow being cast by a vehicle met Nox's foot and before he noticed a skeletal hand reaching out from the shadows and grabbing his ankle. "Oh shit! What is that!" he yelled in a panic.

 

The hand snapped apart at its wrist and its grip released. "What's wrong, Nox? I thought you were friends with dead things?" Goden said, laughing. Nox rolled his eyes at him.

 

The shadows grew closer and closer to the party and they froze. More limbs began to rise up from the ground and, slowly, these skeletal creatures started pulling themselves up through. 

 

"I feel like it's safe to assume those are definitely bad,” Rielle yelled. "We need to get on higher ground! Quick, up that fire escape!"

 

Nox threw a dagger at the fire escape's weight mechanism to lower the first set of stairs and they began up the side of the building. The creatures quickly followed them up the iron stairs. As they scaled upwards fighting them off grew harder and harder. One of the creatures caught up with Goden and tore at his armour. Blaze quickly backtracked and hurled an axe at the enemy. He pulled Goden up and met with the rest of the party.

 

"I'll stay behind and buy you some time. The quarters are too close for melee fighters until we get to the top,” Rielle instructed. "You've got as much time as I have arrows. Move!"

 

They continued up the escape with Rielle slowly tailing them as she fought off the stream of enemies following them. Eventually they safely made it to the top and Rielle passed Goden and Blaze. As soon as she made it off of the fire escape they raised their weapons high. The two brought an attack down so fiercely that the flames of the axes and the shock wave of the greatsword destroyed the supports of the stairs. The escape crashed down off of the building and onto the street below, crushing the creatures under its weight.

 

They looked over the skyline of the city. A thick fog surrounded most of the buildings farther away, seemingly keeping them in one part of the city. The sun finally set completely and the cries of the creatures on the streets subsided. Before they could draw another breath, a piercing howl was heard throughout the hollow skyscrapers. The cry of a dragon.

 

The five of them frantically looked around. They could hear the deep sound of wings flapping as the roars and howls continued but they couldn't see a thing.

"The darkness... Our enemy seems to be using it to it's advantage,” Amaranth noted.

 

The roars got louder and louder until it sounded like until it sounded like they were coming from right behind them. Rielle had this realization, and without thinking, pushed Amaranth, who was closest to the edge, out of the way. She was hit by a invisible force so powerful that it had to have been the dragon itself and it threw her from the skyscraper. 

 

_ A shadow... _ she thought.  _ The dragon's invisible, but it still casts a shadow. _

 

As she fell, the world seemed to slow down.  _ This is it. How am I going to tell them? They're going to die before they find out. That dragon's going to kill them. Is this the end? _ Thoughts were racing through her mind, but then Rielle saw it. The dragon's shadow was appearing on the skyscrapers as it flew. 

 

In midair she ignited and nocked an arrow, waiting for the dragon to appear again. The second she saw it, she let the arrow fly in its direction.

The arrow hit caught her target in its wing, displaying its location to the party.  _ That's it. That'll do... _ she thought, and closed her eyes as she plummeted towards the streets below.

 

Rielle felt a burning hot embrace grab her, and then the shock of pummeling into the ground. Something or someone had broken her fall. She slowly opened her eyes and found that she was laying on top of Blaze. "How in the hell...?" she muttered.

 

Blaze let out an awful cough and tried to catch his breath. "I uh.... we... they used every health buff and potion we had and..." He coughed again and spat blood on the ground beside him. "I even melted some of the ground on impact to serve as a cushion. Didn't work. My ribs hurt now, great. Dammit, Rielle... You okay?"

 

She laughed. "You buffed your health and just jumped off to catch me, hoping that the fall wouldn't kill you?"

 

"Hell yeah, I did. Just blaze!"

 

Another roar echoed throughout the city, reminding them of their situation. Rielle helped Blaze back to his feet and tossed a healing potion at him. She initiated the party-wide chat to contact the guys back on the roof. "New plan. I'm not dead,” she said to everyone. "Part one of the new plan is to not let Blaze jump off any more buildings. Part two is, we need to get that asshole dragon out of the sky."

 

"Roof Team here,” Amaranth said. "Seems like you've clearly marked the target for us while almost dying. Good job on that. Oh, and by the way, it seems your mark is hovering about 15 meters down the street behind you. You guys should probably get on that."

 

Blaze and Rielle spun around, just in time to see the shadow of the dragon become tangible right before their eyes. It let out another piercing roar and the shadow began to shrink and morph into another form. It slowly solidified into the shape of person in armour. The black knight picked the burning arrow from its chest and threw it to the ground.

 

A deep and rumbling voice emitted from the black knight. "Clever... but the Hunger yearns and I must feed it." 

 

Rielle sidestepped and fired off a few arrows at the shadow. It hardly bothered to block them simply shrugging them off uselessly. It drew a long, serrated blade, the metal stained a deep blood red, and charged at Blaze. Blaze furiously raised and swung his axes in an attempt to cut through the knight's armour. The attacks connected but as soon as they did the knight sank into the shadow beneath him and disappeared.

 

"I am a shadow. You cannot touch me. You cannot escape from me."

 

The black knight appeared behind Rielle, slamming one of its heavy greaves into the back of her calf, and sent her collapsing to the ground. In an attempt to retaliate she began to fire an arrow at the shadow, but it simply slashed and destroyed her bow. She stood back up and materialized a shortsword in her hand. The shadow swung at her again, and Rielle's sword couldn't withstand the attack. The blade snapped at the hilt.

 

Rielle formed another blade and attacked the shadow herself this time. Blocked. She created a blade in each hand and attacked with both. Disarmed and shattered. Rielle's attacks amounted to nothing as each blade she created was immediately destroyed by the shadow's attacks. 

 

The knight swiftly brought its gauntleted fist hard into Rielle's stomach, and she fell to the ground. "A pity..." the creature taunted. It raised its sword above its head to deliver the final blow.

 

With a flash of flames and light, Blaze stood between the black knight and Rielle. His collarbone caught the shadow's blade. Blaze grabbed the blade with both of his hands and surround his body in flames.

 

The shadow failed to remove the blade from Blaze's grasp. "Futile warrior. The closer you get to the light, the larger the shadows become,” the knight bellowed.

 

"Yeah, well," Blaze replied as he ripped the blade from his flesh, "The closer ya get to the Blaze, the sooner you burn." Blaze threw the blade aside and hurled a fist at the shadow's skull. The attack connected and the knight flew backwards, slamming into the asphalt and skidding across the pavement.

 

Blaze's flames grew immensely larger and brighter. The intense light radiating from Blaze eliminated the shadows around them, leaving the knight no escape. Pinned against some rubble, the shadow knight raised another sword towards Blaze and growled at him. Blaze brought both of his axes together and the molten flames fused the two into one. They expanded and formed a massive greataxe that dripped with the searing flames.

 

The armour Blaze wore twisted into sharp spikes and jagged edges, scorched black from his flames, burning so brightly Rielle could barely make out his figure. Blaze brought the greataxe above him and an immense tower of flames emitted from its wake. The axe swung down, and the pillar of flames incinerated the black knight, obliterating anything in it's path below.

After a few moments, the flames died down and Blaze's armour and weapons returned to normal. Nothing but a small crater remained where the shadow once was.

 

The party left the strange city and took the mirrored gate back to the world they had grown accustomed to. The archway seemed to seal itself behind them as they exited. The group found a large crowd waiting for them at the entrance to the newly cleared dungeon.

 

People in the crowd were yelling questions at them about their identity and their strategies and how they cleared the 'dungeon.' Out of nowhere the leader of LGN, Ruric Snowcaller himself, stood to interrogate them about being the original DRGN. Blaze remained silent and Ruric turned to Amaranth. The Sylvari scrambled to find Rielle to answer the crowd, but she had seemed to already have disappeared.

 


	9. Strife

Chapter 9: Strife

 

It was a cold evening when the guild made it back to their headquarters. Every target in the courtyard and even some of the wooden ramparts had been riddled with arrows, and the glass of several windows had been shattered.

 

"By the gods, did we get attacked?" Goden asked.

 

"I doubt it. Or rather, I think it's safe to assume that Rielle's here,” Amaranth answered.

 

Goden and Nox proceeded to search inside the halls for Rielle, while the others went up on the battlements. Loose arrows and bows that were seemingly identical laid strewn across the ground everywhere. It wasn't long before the followed the trail of weapons and found her.

 

Rielle sat up on the castle's walls looking out to the bay. She was holding her legs to her chest and humming a tune under her breath.

 

"Hey..." Amaranth began. "How are you feeling? Are you hurt?" 

 

Rielle pressed her forehead to her knees and remained silent.

 

The two other guys rushed up the battlements to the rest of the group. "We couldn't find- Oh... I suppose you found her,” Nox reported. "I, um... Should we leave?"

 

"I'd actually like to know why our 'Leader' bailed on us after the battle was over,” Goden scoffed.

 

Rielle lifted her head and sighed. "I just don't get it. It's not my accuracy nor is it my speed." She pointed out towards the bay at a half-sunken ship far from the shore. At the top of its mast was an arrow with a flare burning from it.

 

"We're not criticizing your archery, Rielle,” Amaranth said. “You're actually a pretty damn good shot."

 

"Then why does nothing I do seem to work?" she replied. "I can fire a bow. Sure, that's a base level attack. So why do none of my skills work? I fire an arrow and any slightly-above-normal enemy ignores it. Then I’m stuck in close combat, get crippled, my weapon smashed, and all I have left is this series of glowing lines on my arm that do nothing."

 

"We're not going to figure anything out complaining at each other up here,” Amaranth said. "Rielle, what about the sword you made in our first fight at Hoelbrak? You used it to defeat the knight that rode the dragon there. Have you tried to create it again?"

 

Rielle hopped off of the ledge and stood in front of the group. She removed the bracer from her right arm and tossed it aside. A faint light pulsed through the circuits of her bare skin. She reached forward and closed her eyes. A light began to form in her hand, sparking and pulsing with mana. The energy snapped into shape and formed a blade unlike one she'd used before. The blade felt extremely light as she cut the air in front of her.

 

Blaze grumbled and grabbed the sword from her hand, and without taking another look at it, he snapped it over his knee. "See? Useless! The swords you're making have no backbone. Come on, Rielle! You're supposed to be the leader of the legendary DRGN! You're the Azure Dragon! I've seen you defeat enemies like that shadowy creep from that dungeon in your sleep!"

 

Rielle looked at her feet and took a heavy breath. "Blaze... It was just a game back then."

 

Blaze shook a fist in her face, a wisp of flame involuntarily igniting from his hand. "That no longer matters! This isn't a game anymore, regardless of how much you and Amaranth try to break it down. We're all here and this is real!" He sighed and slowly lowered his fist, putting out the flames.

 

The group remained silent. Rielle continued to stare at her feet, unable to say anything or look Blaze in the eye. 

 

"Look," Blaze said with another sigh. "We'll work on it tomorrow, so go get yourselves some sleep."

 

Morning came before any of the guild were ready for it. Amaranth woke to the smell of sweet food and a consistent  _ thunk _ noise. He headed downstairs to the main hall where Goden and Nox sat at the dining table.

 

"Old Blaze is firing up us some breakfast,” Nox said giggling. Amaranth gave him a blank stare. "Oh, come on, that was funny!"

 

A voice called out from the kitchen. "Hey comedian, why don't you go out and get Rielle? She's been in the courtyard all morning firing more arrows than I realized we even had."

 

Once Nox had retrieved Rielle, the five of them sat around the table. "Pancakes, all around! Hope you like them because that's all that my cooking skill will let me prepare at the moment with what we have. Eat up!" Blaze said cheerfully.

 

They finished eating their awkward breakfast and Rielle cleared her throat to speak. "I, um... I'm going to be leaving in about an hour or two."

 

"So, where ya heading?" Nox asked. "Want us to come with?"

 

"No, I'm going alone,” she replied. Blaze raised a brow at her. "That, and I may not be back for awhile."

 

Amaranth gave her a concerned look. "Where exactly are you heading that you wouldn't want us to come along but also might keep you from returning?"

 

Rielle stood from the table and walked to a window. "Well, I'm not entirely sure, and that's the problem. I need to find someone that may know of my abilities..." She raised her marked arm. "Or someone who knows of this."

 

The group gave her time to pack and then met up at the gate of DRGN HQ to see her off. Blaze was the first to walk over to Rielle and gave her a crushing bear hug. 

 

"Oh Blaze, the scent of burnt chest hair hasn't gotten any better,” Rielle said with a struggle.

 

Nox and Goden gave her a pat on either shoulder. "I hope you find who you're looking for,” Goden said. 

 

"And I hope you come back soon", Nox interrupted. "I'd hate to see Blaze become guild leader if you don't come back."

 

"Where did he disappear to, anyway? He was just here,” Amaranth asked.

 

They quickly glanced around. "Oh, he's under that tree over there, already asleep,” Rielle said with a faint hint of laughter.

 

Amaranth came over and took Rielle's hand. He bowed and said, "Oh Lady Rielle, leader of the Eternal Dragonborn, I do humbly await your gracious return."

 

Rielle rolled her eyes at him. "Oh Amar, of course that would be how you say good-bye. This isn't a farewell though." 

 

She began to walk out the gate, but turned to say one more thing."No worries, right? For the DRGN?"

 

The guild raised their fists into the air and cheered. "FOR THE DRGN!"

 

Under the tree, Blaze mumbled quietly in his sleep, "Fer deh durrrgerrrr."

 


	10. The Rebirth

Chapter 10: The Rebirth

 

"Two weeks have passed and we still haven't heard from Rielle,” Amaranth noted to Goden. The two of them were headed to the ancient archives in Lonar's Pass. The Durmand Priory ran these archives, and Goden had recently taken steps to join their organization.

 

"What made you want to join up with the Priory again?" Amaranth asked.

 

"It's simple, really,” Goden answered. "Our guild needed money and this was an easy way to pitch in my share. It's like boring field research and bodyguard tasks but with way less testosterone than the vigil."

 

"That does make sense. I'd join up for the funds as well but Blaze has me doing a lot of managing with Rielle gone. We've apparently got hands in the ore mining and material gathering businesses that I was completely unaware of. Pretty soon the profits we're making off that should get us enough to hire builders to finish up the Headquarters. It's a nifty deal those two had been working on this whole time."

 

"Damn, I had no clue,” Goden replied. “So anyway, we need to get into the lowest level archives, correct?"

 

"Precisely,” Amaranth replied. "Between the rumors we've heard, the lesser dragon that attacked Hoelbrak, and that... thing we fought in the dungeon, I have a feeling that might be where we need to start looking if we're to figure out what's really going on in this world. It's all leading back to the Elder Dragons that were defeated in the game world."

 

The two made their way into the giant library. Its hall was carved out of the very side of the mountain itself and was tucked away into the rock. Inside the library, the two passed through each security checkpoint with zero effort. It seemed strange when the guards didn't bother to look up at the at all as they walked passed.

 

"Must've been a slow day at the office,” Goden said, laughing.

 

In the main hall of the library was a large hexagonal room lined with bookshelves upon bookshelves. They weaved in and out of a few aisles before Goden found what he was looking for: a silver-backed book sitting on a shelf at the end of an aisle. He tugged on it and inserted it back into its place. A few clicking noises were heard and the entire bookcase shifted slightly. They slid the shelving a bit, and the section of bookcase swung open before them. 

 

"Cliche, I know," Goden said continuing to laugh.

 

They followed an absurdly long, musky, and dark passageway down to another locked room. Amaranth easily picked the lock before them and opened the way to the mysterious chamber.

 

Torches sat in the sconces of the dusty chamber. Even more bookshelves lined the walls of the small room. As the two walked in, they noticed a man dressed in a faded white cloak sitting at a wooden writing desk. The man coughed and looked up to them. His eyes squinted and he cracked a faint grin.

 

“So, they come at last to see me,” the man answered in a soft voice.

 

Amaranth bowed to the man and then spoke. "My apologies for interrupting your studies. My comrade and I come seeking information and did not intend to intrude."

 

"Naturally, I'd wager you do,” the man spoke again. "Seek information, I mean. Intruding is another matter entirely. One that I do not bother to discuss, unless, of course, how to properly intrude is the information you seek. In that case we may discuss it in detail. I even believe there is a book on intruding on the shelf on your right."

 

"Actually, sir," Goden said hesitantly, "We're here for... something completely different, believe it or not. We're seeking the truth about the dragons that roam this world. Perhaps something that isn't exactly common knowledge."

 

The man stood from his desk, stumbling slightly. "Of course you are. Well you are, in fact, the first...  _ players _ that I've seen since the Rebirth."

 

"...Rebirth?" Amaranth mumbled.

 

"So what kind of dragons do you speak of? There are many kinds, of course. I'm sure you've slain many of their kin already. Or do you wish to know about the Elder Dragons? Never mind, of course you do! Who of your kind doesn't want to know about them? They are, of course, the reason you're here-” He gestured broadly with both hands. “-and the reason that you  _ are _ here.” He pointed at the floor. 

 

He paused and took a deep, gasping breath before continuing, “Well, all I can say is this, my dear friends: the ones you call the Elder Dragons are not the only ones with the power that they posses. They just so happen to be the ones that have made themselves widely known and think of themselves personally to be the most important. That, and not all dragons want the same things, mind you. Some... may not agree with their kin."

 

Amaranth shook his hands at the old man. "Wait! There must be more to it than that. That's so much to process and yet I'm not sure it even makes sense! You -!"

 

A loud crashing noise echoed from the chamber door, which flew open, sending skeletal creatures pouring into the room.

 

"Shit! We've got nowhere to go!" Goden cursed.

 

The cloaked man stepped in front of the two. "It's certainly been a while, hasn't it? I may only be able to do this one final time." He spread his arms wide and took a deep breath. As he exhaled a large plume of flames spewed from his esophagus. "Don't mind me, lads. Escape while their bones are busy crumbling!"

 

Back in the main room of the library, it became apparent what had happened. Most of the Priory members were either being attacked or had already turned into walking corpses themselves.

 

Goden could only sigh. "I swear, as soon as I get a good gig going something goes and mucks it up on me." He unsheathed his greatsword and activated a defensive skill. "So, my leafy friend, shall we?"

 

"Okay, so two things are wrong with that,” Amaranth said with a smirk on his face. "First, you guys need to stop referring to me as your leafy friend. You're obviously just jealous of my good looks."

 

Goden nodded with approval.

 

"Secondly, I may have a better idea than fighting hordes of undead, as I don't particularly feel like it today. Getting that smell out of your clothes takes weeks, let's be real."

 

"Well you know 'bark' rhymes with 'snark' and that's really the vibe I'm getting from you here,” Goden replied.

 

Amaranth made a disgusted noise at him. He took a step forward and unsheathed his rapier, which began to glow with a purple aura. With a flick of the wrist, he sliced an oval into thin air, the light emitting from his blades opening a portal with the library's exterior on the other side.

 

"I've dumped as many skill points as I can intro this ability to maximize its distance and recharge rate. It's supposed to be a short-range portal used in combat, but I can create enough of these to get us safely out of the library. All without having to fight a single one of those horrors,” Amaranth explained.

 

Goden put his blade away and began through the purple gateway. "You  _ would _ find a way to make cheating your way out of a battle seem fancy and sophisticated."

 

"It's what I do," Amaranth replied. "You should be used to this by now."

 

After the short trip back to DRGN HQ, the two found their home vacant, a small note pinned to the dining hall's table.  _ Going to go talk with some spirits in the Ascalonian Catacombs, be back tomorrow. -Nox _ , the note read. Scribbled at the bottom of the note was,  _ Off to the city to make axes and stuff. Love, Blaze. _ Below that was a crude drawing of Blaze holding an axe on fire in one hand, and a bottle of what was probably booze in the other. The bottle was also on fire.

 


	11. Just Blaze

Chapter 11 - Just Blaze

 

It was a dark and lonely night at the DRGN headquarters as Nox roamed the battlements alone. Not many of the guild spent their time here since Rielle left. Amaranth was busy with communications and research. Goden worked with the Priory to restore order since the attack on their great Library. And Blaze, who Nox wasn't sure where he was most of the time.  _ Probably off drinking in a pub somewhere _ , Nox thought to himself.

 

The necromancer felt solace in communicating with the dead that roamed the coast near their home. He....

 

Wait! This is boring! You mean you'd enjoy reading this? I, the Lord of the Blaze, will tell an even better tale. Let me tell you the story of how, while Rielle was gone, we visited my humble second home in Mount Maelstrom and how I became the best axe-smith in all of Tyria!

 

The story begins when the three other members of the great and mighty DRGN needed me for some quest or something. I can't remember. And details aren't important! Except the details that I'm explaining to you. Now pay attention.

 

They arrived at the great volcano of Mount Maelstrom, no doubt with Treeface holding their hands the entire trip. The totally not active volcano was where I first woke in this world and is basically my summer home. It's where I spent my free time when the guild wasn't in need of the mighty Blaze's abilities. Or when Treeface didn't need help training the newbies.

 

When they descended into the tunnels, they were met by a flaming hulking giant Megadestroyer blocking their path. That's my dog, and his name is Fredric.

 

The great beast roared at the three and tossed a small boulder in their general direction. Assuming the gesture as a sign of hostility, they swiftly retaliated. Goden provided defensive buffs for the party and then charged at the beast. Treeface - I mean Amaranth - used a new skill he acquired that could chain down the creature's legs for a brief moment, thus creating an opening. 

 

"Nox, backstab it while it's immobilized!" Amaranth yelled.

 

Nox sprinted at the flaming beast from behind. Thoughts flowed through his mind.  _ This is my chance. I can get the critical attack and prove how powerful I've gotten to the guild! _ He leaped from a ledge and struck at his target, planning to drive both his daggers into the creature's back.

 

The beast instead drove its elbow back and caught Nox in his ribcage. The necromancer was thrown back, his body going limp as it slammed against a rock formation many meters behind them. Goden cried Nox's name and ran over to him.

 

"CEASE!" they heard echo throughout the caverns. The flaming beast halted its attacks and bowed towards a tunnel behind them. Nox regained consciousness just in time for all three of them to see the man they had came here looking for in the entrance of the tunnel.

 

"What the bloody hell do you three think you're doing attacking my dog?" Blaze shouted at them.

 

Goden stood picking Nox up with him. "The giant freak attacked us! What the hell is that thing anyway?"

 

"It's my dog, of course!", Blaze answered. "And of course he wasn't attacking you! He just saw new friends and wanted to play a totally friendly game of Searing Lava-shard Fetch with you."

 

The three stood staring at Blaze with absolutely blank expressions on their faces.

 

Blaze rubbed his cheek on the flaming creature's shoulder. "Who's a good boy? Yes, you're a good boy!" The creature's roar echoed throughout the chamber as it sank back into the pool of lava it emerged from. "So what in the blazes are you down here for? Hehe, you see what I did there? Blaze... get it?"

 

The three remained staring at him expressionlessly.

 

"Oh you've got to give me that one. That was funny!" Blaze pleaded. 

"So what aaaaare ya doing down here, anywho?"

 

Amaranth cleared his throat and started, "Blaze, we came to get you for a trip to Claw Is-"

 

"Nah, I don't have time for that right now!" he interrupted. Blaze rushed back into the tunnel and came out a moment later carrying a large chest full of black stones. "Get yer asses in there and help me with these! I've been mining all week and these beauties aren't going to carry themselves to the city!"

The three remaining guildmates grew wide-eyed as they saw the tunnel full of boxes and crates full of the black stones and other crafting materials.

 

Nox managed to find words as he massaged his skull. "You mean we have to carry all of these? There's no way!" 

 

Blaze simply laughed as he lead them up and out of the volcano.

 

A couple of days later, the guildmates met up with Lord Blaze at the public blacksmithy in Divinity's Reach.

 

"I'm telling you, Blaze, we've got to get to that island. I've gotten a few different reports from my sources that something is heading towards Lion’s Arch, and that island is the first defense against that shit. Don't you remember the battle in the game that takes place there? You and Rielle-"

 

Blaze almost stumbled over an anvil to grab another box of materials. In the crate was a bottle of bourbon that Blaze snatched up, opened over the end of the anvil, and immediately took a swig. "Now, my prickly friend, there's nothing to get yer leaves in a bunch. If there was something big about to go down don't you think LGN or Blood Oath would be on it? Or those Vigil folk? They like killing things, so let them handle it."

 

"That's the problem!" Amaranth declared again. "They're not paying attention to the reports. Ever since they realized who we were, they've been hounding me to get us to fight Kralkatorric in the Brand where the dungeon was. They're not worried about another attack on the island because it happened in the game. They're claiming it won’t happen again because the game shouldn't be repeating itself."

 

"Ya damn right, Amarithy!" Blaze grumbled as he took another drink. "We killed that undead dragon minion in the game at the island and then all three of us went and killed ol' deathly dragon lord himself."

 

"But Blaze," Nox spoke up, "That's the thing about the undead. They're  _ un _ dead."

 

"Ah! Shut yer face. If you guys are so worried about it, then we'll head there tomorrow. Right now I'm busy and yer all up in my work while I've got work that needs to be done!" Blaze tossed the bottle of bourbon against the wall and the brew caught fire against the furnaces.

 

"Damn, I lose so many bottles of booze that way." Blaze laughed as the fires began to spread. The three quickly backed away from the flames pouring out of the furnaces.

 

Nox grabbed Amaranth by the arm. "We need to evacuate these people immediately. Blaze is going to cover this entire place in flames before we know it." 

 

The trio nodded to each other, and started to lead people away from the area.

 

Blaze continued to drink and hammer away on the anvil. He was dumping the boxes of materials into the furnaces, only increasing the flames more and more. He slammed back bottle after bottle of alcohol as the rest shattered and went up in flames. Blaze's laughing louder and louder as he hammered and hammered at his creation. The flames grew bigger and brighter and his laughter could be heard throughout the streets of the city.

 

Finally, the laughter stopped, and a final strike at the anvil was heard. It was quiet for a moment, only the smoldering embers of the blacksmithy crackling. 

 

Suddenly, a large explosion emitted from the smithy as the main furnace blew up entirely. The flames devoured the entire city block and the buildings surrounding the smithy began to crumble under the immense heat. The Queen’s guards, local common folk, and the three guildmates scrambled to put out the fires.

A few hours later, only the weak embers of the blacksmith fire remained. The three sat on the edge of a curb facing where the smithy used to be.

 

"So, when do you think he'll pop up out of the charred remains of the blacksmithy? Or do you think he's... dead?" Goden reluctantly asked.

 

"He'd better not be dead," Amaranth scoffed. "Or I'll dig up his body and kick his ass."

 

"What if he was cremated by the fire?" Nox mumbled.

 

"Then I'll kick his ashes,” Amaranth replied, and the three laughed uncomfortably.

 

The ruins of the smithy began to shift as Blaze uncovered himself from the debris. He grumbled and continued to make groaning noises as he climbed out of the disaster.

 

"What is he carrying? By the gods, Blaze," Amaranth sighed.

 

Blaze made his way out of the wreckage wielding two freshly forged axes, one in each hand, of course. The axes glowed with a bright red light and seemed to continuously drip with molten obsidian.

 

Goden rushed over to inspect the new weapons. "It's like you fused flowing lava into the shape of a weapon and bent it to your will."

 

Blaze laughed. "Don't go spilling all of my secrets, now. Maybe if you're good you'll get one yourself for Wintersday."

 

"Yeah, just don't go setting another entire city block ablaze next time to make one,” Amaranth scolded.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapt was meant to be told from Blaze's perspective. Proving difficult to write it this way it slowly melded into the usual style by the end. Naturally we can come to expect Blaze breaking the fourth wall a bit, so we'll forgive him this time.


	12. Claw Island

Chapter 12 - Claw Island

 

Over the next few weeks, the guild met less and less at their headquarters. Nox followed Goden around on his scouting missions for the Priory, helping out refugees of the mysterious attacks along the way. In the meantime, Amaranth showed a vague sense of leadership with keeping communications in Rielle's absence. He remained working with some of the major guilds and led his own small group of spies and scouts throughout Tyria. Information was key, and if anything on the dragons or the mysterious attacks was out there, he was determined to find it. An overwhelming sense of urgency fell upon him, and thus he called a mandatory meeting for the DRGN at Lion's Arch.

 

The group met on a beach near the busy city. Each of the members could feel a change in one another, not to mention that their appearances had changed as well. It was evident that they had been spending their time enhancing their abilities, and they had new equipment to match. A mutual feeling a respect for their fellow guild mates resonated between them. 

 

Goden opened a game menu and added them all to the same party. "So why here, in Lion's Arch, of all places?" he asked. "Why not DRGN HQ like usual?"

 

"Never mind that, I spend too much time there anyway," Amaranth said as he pressed his shoulder against a rock. He crossed his arms and looked out towards the sea. "Six months. It's been six months since we came to this world and still we barely know anything about it other than the vague lore the game taught us."

 

Nox was uncharacteristically furious at him. He quickly stepped forward and grabbed the collar of Amaranth's coat. "So out of these six months of our's, how long has your precious leader been gone?! Where is she? Surely you've gotten reports from her by now?"

 

He released his grip on Amaranth's coat and stepped back. Amaranth had a look on his face of both utter surprise and slight confusion. "She's been gone about two and a half months now. And no, I haven't received a single report from her."

 

Nox sat on an adjacent boulder and looked out to the sea as well. "She's probably left us completely at this point. It's not like we've been getting anything done since that dungeon with the Shadow Dragon."

 

"No... No, she wouldn't do that. She wouldn't just abandon us," Amaranth replied.

 

"Ugghh, so what did you call this meeting for, anyway? So that we could sit and mope over our useless-in-combat leader's disappearance?" Nox scoffed.

 

"You seem pretty set on this whole 'where is Rielle' thing."

 

"And why wouldn't I be?" Nox barked. "You're playing spy-hunter with the guilds, finding absolutely nothing while Goden and I are helping the people out there who are being attacked or even killed by... what? Shadows? These bone creatures are killing people, Amaranth. Killing people and their bodies are rising from the dead moments later to join their murders in combat. So yeah, excuse me if I'm a bit worried about what the hell is going on."

 

"But what does that have to do with her?"

 

"Because she can do weird shit! And every time it happens it's because we're in or around a fight with some minions of some dragon."

 

Goden walked over to Nox and grabbed him by the shoulder. "We're getting off track, man. Let's just hear him out and find out why he called this-" He was interrupted by the faint sound of something exploding out over the sea. Across from the bay of Lion's Arch was a fort that rested on Claw Island, meant to be the city's first line of defense.

 

"I would imagine that that," Blaze said, pointing towards the island in the distance, "is why Amaranth called this meeting. We should probably get our asses over there."

 

They hurried to the docks, where Blaze conveniently commandeered a ship. As they disembarked on to the island, they noticed another ship had just arrived as well and was offloading cargo. Crossing the adjacent ship's gangplank was a greenish coloured sylvari wearing armour that seemed to grow from his body. Amaranth's face lit up as he rushed to greet the man.

 

"Trahearn! Trahearn, what brings you here?"

 

The green sylvari adjusted himself as he approached them. "Well met, my kin. It just so happens that my research would be what brings me here. May I ask who you all are though, friend? You seem familiar, but I can't exactly place from where."

 

Blaze coughed as he rushed to Amaranth's side. "How could he not know who we are?" he whispered to Amaranth.

 

Amaranth cleared his throat. "We fought alongside y-” He paused abruptly. “...the Pact a few years ago against the Elder Dragon Zhaitan."

 

"Oh! So you helped defeat the Elder Dragon, then?" Trahearn said as his eyes widened. "Oh how I wish I could have been there. I might not have been much help though, being a scholar and all. It must have been grand indeed!"

 

"But you-" Amaranth began, before Blaze interrupted him.

 

"It was a triumphant moment indeed! Well, it was great meeting you, friend, but we really should be getting up there to see what all of that noise was about,” Blaze said. He quickly grabbed Amaranth's arm and lead them up the path to the fortress.

 

A short way up, Goden stopped them. "What the hell was that? Did you know him?"

 

"We did... Or at least I thought we did," Amaranth answered.

 

"I'm thinkin'..." Blaze hesitated. "I'm thinkin' it either wasn't him, the NPC from the game, or it  _ was _ and the NPCs don't remember anything that players may have done in the game."

 

"Wow Blaze, you might actually be onto something for once,” Nox snarled. 

 

Blaze promptly hit the back of his head. 

 

"Owwuch!"

 

Within the fortress, a woman in full armour was directing crews to clean up the rubble of a wall that had just been blown out. Amaranth and Blaze gave each other a look.

 

"And what the hell are you all doing here?” the woman demanded. “Civilians? Or are you Guildmen? Either way I've got a wall out of my fort, some enemy ship attacking, and I'm certainly not happy!"

 

Amaranth hesitantly answered the intimidating woman. "Yes, we're guild adventurers. May we ask your name and what happened here exactly?"

 

The woman seemed to calm down slightly. "The name's Watch Commander Mira, and this is my fortress. The fortress some stealth cruiser decided to pop out of nowhere and attack. It's knocked out a few of our turrets, a trebuchet, and a bit of the fortifications on the south wall. It's still there as my men hold it off, if you want to take pictures or whatever you guildmen do."

 

"A feint attack..." Blaze and Amaranth said simultaneously to each other. The two rush towards the southern tip of the island with Goden and Nox shortly behind them. Looming a short distance away in the water was a ghastly ship with a rotting hull, supports of bone, and sails of tattered flesh.

 

"Something seems terribly off,” Blaze said as he unsheathed an axe. "Why would a Risen ship be attackin' here again?"

 

"It's simple," Amaranth began. "It's happening all over again. It's the battle of Claw Island being recreated before our eyes... This force wants Lion's Arch, or at the very least, it wants us dead."

 

"How is that possible?" Nox replied.

 

"Shit! I thought you, the mighty Eternal Dragonborn, killed that blasted Zhaitan!" Goden sarcastically said. 

 

Suddenly, the sea itself opened up, and a dragon made of torn flesh and bone erupted from the waters before them. It roared furiously as it took to the skies above them. Risen corpses and skeletal creatures similar to those in the dungeon they had fought before began to rise up out of the waters and come ashore.

 

"Shit shit shit dammit! That's a dragon!" Blaze yelled.

 

"How eloquent!" Amaranth yelled back at him.

 

"Get back to the fucking fort! We need to hold the defense!" Blaze ordered.

 

The group began to fall back along with the soldiers that were holding back the initial attackers. Nox, however, stood his ground before the oncoming enemies.  _ This is it _ , he thought. "You want to play undead, huh!? Fine! Bring forth THE UNDEAD!" he shouted at the horde.

 

Goden spun around and yelled back at him. "Stop! Get back here! I told you you're not ready for this!"

 

Nox turned and smiled at him. "Don't worry, old friend... Don't fear the reaper." He sliced his wrist deeply and pressed the blood to his chest. A gaping shadow of a maw appeared beneath him and he sunk into it as if it had devoured him whole.

 

A few seconds later a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness. It was Nox, rising up on wisps like black smoke, cloaked in shadow. He raised his arm and reached forth as the shadows gathered around his limbs. A huge black scythe forged from the darkness materialized in his grasp and he took a wide stance.

 

Nox rushed toward the hoard, spinning and attacking with the pitch-black weapon like a dance of death.

 

The party managed to fall back to the fort's main barricades as the reaper held the front lines, the scythe spinning around his body fluidly. A single risen swordsman managed to slip past Nox, but before it could get very far, he plunged his arm into the ground and sent a massive disembodied hand made of shadow bursting from the earth beneath it. The hand latched onto its legs, and Nox appeared behind it in a flash. With one swift motion, he cleaved the risen in two.

 

"We're taking point. Now get back here, Nox!" Goden shouted.

 

The reaper flew back to them and stabbed its scythe into the ground. The weapon dissolved and the shadows sunk back into the ground as large walls of bone jutted forth. The bone created a temporary defensive barricade to hold off the horde while they could regroup. Nox fell to his knees, the shadows that covered him slowly dissipating as he reverted to his normal form.

 

"How was that?" Nox said, catching his breath.

 

Goden patted him on the shoulder. "You did well, friend."

 

Amaranth gave Nox a reassuring nod, but suddenly his mouth twisted into a frown. "Shit, we're missing someone. Wait, where's Blaze?"

 

They looked through the walls of bone and saw Blaze on the other side of the barricade, still fighting beyond the walls with the dragon flying close overhead. Another Risen ship rolled up to the coast and began firing its cannons at the island. A huge shard of shrapnel from the cannon aimed directly at Blaze speared him in the thigh. Blaze let out a loud cry of rage but continued fighting, his flaming axes searing and cutting through all that stood before him.

 

Amaranth stepped back from the barricade. "Dammit, Blaze!" He whispered some enchantment on a dagger then threw it in the ground behind him and it began to emit a faint glow. Amaranth quickly jumped and flipped over the barricade to the other side. With both swords in hand he dashed towards Blaze.

 

_ Heh. I guess it's time to show off as well. _ Amaranth crossed the swords and brought them to his chest. "Clockwork Fantasy!"

 

A line of Amaranth clones appeared on either side of him, almost like an army. The mass of purple sylvari rushed off in different directions, some fighting enemies, and some heading towards Blaze himself. As the hoards of undead fought the nimble swordsman clones, the true Amaranth made his way to Blaze.

 

The warrior fell to one knee as he saw Amaranth. Amaranth struggled to pick Blaze up by one arm as another wave of enemies rushed towards them. The sylvari threw his sword directly at the nearest enemy, stabbing it directly in the throat in a fit of rage. Amaranth raised his remaining sword and a purple glowing portal opened up beneath them. The anchor back behind the barricade activated and the two were teleported back to safety.

 

Behind the barricade, the group rested for a moment as the island's forces continued the battle.

 

"I'm still fighting and that's that!" Blaze yelled at Amaranth, who was tending to his wound.

 

"Dude, you've only got one working leg!" Nox yelled back at him.

 

"Don't you 'dude' me!" Blaze shouted as he struggled to get up. He climbed the ladder that led to the top of the fort walls and pointed at one of the Risen ships.

 

"Get down before you break your other leg,” Amaranth barked at him.

 

"Fuck this ship in particular!" Blaze yelled as he equipped a huge rifle with a massive barrel from his inventory. "CHARRZOOKA!!!!" he screamed with rage as the weapon fired a barrage of rockets at the bone ship, completely obliterating it.

 

Goden sighed and looked towards Amaranth. "We're going to have to fall back and flee the island at this point."

 

"It's the battle from the game all over again..." Amaranth whispered to himself.

 

"Hey! We've got Crippled up there firing rockets out of his ass, almost no defenses left, and I can't exactly do the reaper thing again in this state without dying. What are we going to do, Amaranth?" Nox said.

 

"We haven't even fought the dragon yet!" Amaranth shouted. "How do we expect to fight the horde, a fucking dragon,  _ and _ defend the island ourselves?"

 

"Shit!" Blaze yelled down at them. "They're tearing down the barricades! We need range support now, or we're dead!"

 

The risen batting at the barricades suddenly began to fall as arrows rained down upon them. A cloaked figure landed in the courtyard behind the party.

The figure wore a long black trenchcoat with a hood that completely hid their face. They walked past them without even a glance and stepped through the barricade's entrance, facing the horde before them.

 

"Is that your hooded friend from the volcano you were talking about, Blaze?" Nox asked.

 

Blaze stepped down from the wall and joined the rest of the group. "No... Their presence is entirely different. It's..." He stopped mid-sentence and remained quiet.

 

The cloaked figure stood in front of them, facing the horde of enemies. They ripped the left sleeve of their coat off at the seam and tossed it aside. Then they grabbed at the right, hesitating for a moment as if they weren't sure if they were ready.

 

The figure drew a deep breath. With a quick motion the right sleeve came off as well, revealing a fingerless-gloved hand with blue glowing circuits running completely up their arm.

 

She lowered her hood, revealing her long reddish-blonde hair that she quickly tied up behind her.

 

A message appeared in front of each of the guild members:  _ Rielle has joined the party _ .

 

A brightly visible spark shot down Rielle's right arm, and she shook it off and clenched her fist. Unarmed, she dashed towards the next wave of enemies approaching the fortress from the seas.

 


	13. Retribution

Chapter 13 - Retribution

 

_ Rielle has joined the party _ , the message said.

 

They looked up at their guild leader, but she didn't look back. Power coursed through her veins and through the magic circuits burning in her skin. She knew she had something to prove to them. She couldn't show weakness now. Rielle bolted towards the oncoming enemies with nothing but her fists. As she approached the risen she jumped and landed a blow from above, her attack crushing the undead's skull.

 

_ First hit was a critical. Keep it up _ , she thought.

 

The next enemy slashed vertically at her, but she quickly dodged and launched her empty palm into its chest, sending it reeling backwards. Rielle spun at another risen, bashing her heel into its neck.

 

_ Keep it up _ .

 

The enemies began to surround her, but Rielle's attacks didn't slow down. Each risen's attack she managed to parry or dodge, grabbing hold of their limbs and retaliating. 

 

A brute risen warrior approached and swung its massive hammer at her, slamming its weight into anything in its path, indiscriminately crushing all in its wake. Rielle flipped back, dodging the attack, and landed on her feet. An enemy behind her saw a chance to attack her flank, but she grabbed its wrist and twisted the risen over herself and slammed it to the ground. With its own blade she pierced its heart. 

 

Another spark ran down her arm and arced across the risen blade. Rielle jumped forward and twisted her body around, building momentum. She tossed the blade directly at the brute before her and it pierced its helm, blood seeping through its armour, its knees buckling as it fell to the ground.

 

Corpses lined the path between Rielle and the next group of enemies. Their numbers continued to grow as more and more risen crept out of the waters around her.

 

_ Trying to surround me, huh? _ Rielle took a moment to observe their formation.  _ Mainly congested in the front, but at least 20 to 30 targets on either side attempting to flank. Main forces are mostly brutes and are simply a distraction for the secondary groups. Side groups have rogue-class enemies with a high chance to critical attack. _

 

Back at the barricade, they helplessly watched their guild leader out on the field.

 

"She's letting herself get surrounded,” Amaranth said. "We need to get support out there now!"

 

"She knows..." Blaze said softly. Amaranth and the others looked at him with confusion. "She wouldn't have came back if she wasn't ready, would she?"

 

Nox’s eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "Well it's not going to help much if she just goes down here. Should I prepare a resurrect?" he snarled.

 

Blaze just shook his head. "She won’t need it."

 

"What do you mean, she won’t need it? She's going to get killed out there!"

 

"She won’t need it." Blaze began to laugh, slow and deep. "Amaranth, it looks like our guild leader's finally come to join us in this world."

 

A smirk slowly spread across Amaranth’s face. "Is that so, Blaze? Well it's about time miss Rielle Dragonborn showed up..."

 

Rielle stood surrounded by the risen force. She took a deep breath. 

 

_ Keep it up! _

 

She raised her arm towards the sky. The circuits in her other arm pulsed and beat in sync with her heart. Mana quickly gathered in her open palm, forming the shape of a bow. Rielle brought the bow in front of her, the mana not completely taking shape, and drew an arrow made of the same energy.

 

"Is that Azureflame…? The rare bow from GW2?” Amaranth whispered. "How did she make that?"

 

Rielle let loose the arrow, which pierced the skull of one of the skeletons and sent it crumpling to the ground. Enemies in the horde around her screamed out their derelict battlecry. They rushed to swarm around her as she fired arrow after arrow back at them. The blue beams of mana pierced through them with ease, but their numbers were still massive. 

 

Rielle shot a hail of arrows in all directions, refusing to let an enemy get within 20 meters of her.The hoard continued the assault as she thought to herself,  _ 80 plus enemies remain on all sides. Skeletons are one shot, risen scouts are two hits, and brutes are four. Not counting criticals, my damage per second isn't enough to keep this up. I need more. Faster... _

 

Rielle stopped attacking and aimed the bow at the skies. Blue light shone forth from her arm, rapidly increasing in intensity, and mana began to spark across the ground. A blindingly bright arrow formed at her hand as she drew it back. She let the arrow fly, and it shot through the air until it pierced the clouds.

 

She lowered her arms and the bow disappeared from her hand. The risen forces ran at her, getting closer and closer, but she just held her ground.

 

"What the hell? That's it? Did she give up?" Nox said, appalled.

 

An immense blue light filled the clouds, and the undead froze and looked up to the skies. Before they could move again, a torrent of arrows rained from the sky above and tore through their armour.

 

The horde all collapsed in a mass of lifeless bones, a sea of corpses all stuck with Rielle's blue arrows. As the last creature fell, the arrows dissolved away into light, and the mana flowed back to her body. She stood silently amidst the bodies of her enemies. The dragon roared overhead and flew towards the island. 

 

_ This isn't over _ , she thought.

 

The dragon landed at the southern tip of the island, directly in front of Rielle and her guildmates. It spewed poisonous clouds that began to devour the island, and in the cesspools undead limbs and giant fishheads arose. The dragon let forth another great roar and more risen enemies arose from the waters around them.

 

"Rielle!" Amaranth yelled. "The fishheads explode, remember!"

 

"Thanks, Amar!" she replied. "Get me ranged support on those fishheads! Blaze and Goden, draw the aggro from the lesser Risen! Nox, I need bone cages on those giant limbs, now!"

 

"Rielle, we don't have the HP nor the mana for any of that. We're spent!" Goden shouted back at her.

 

She rushed back closer to the group, dodging the dragon's poison. Rielle stood facing the enemy with her back to the rest of the party and put her arms out in front of her. The circuits in her arm glowed brighter than they had before as energy arched from the ground around her.

 

Rielle closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered to herself, "I've got to keep it up. Keep moving forward."

 

A bright light erupted from the circuits that lined Rielle’s arm, sending a shockwave through the air that almost knocked the party to the ground. 

 

They opened their eyes to see her standing in front of them wielding a sword with a blade as dark as obsidian. Rielle held the sword at her side, mana pulsing through the blade in time with the pulses through her arm. The mana surged through her and the blade burst with blue flames.

 

"Holy shit, I felt that,” Nox said.

 

"We all did,” Amaranth replied. "Look at our HP and mana. It's gone up about 30%."

 

"What? You mean she can heal now?" he replied.

 

"It's not exactly healing, it seems. More like raw energy," Blaze said as he stood up on his wounded leg. "Haha, I like it! Can't even feel a thing. Shall we, then?"

 

Rielle took a step forward. "Then it's settled... We're taking this thing down!" She spun the flaming sword around in her hand, switching her grip backwards with the blade behind her. In a flash, she bolted towards the dragon and its minions. The rest of the group quickly rushed back into the battle behind her.

 

They fought with complete synergy. The traps were destroyed and the minions were kept at bay while Rielle rushed in to attack the dragon at close range.

 

With intense speed Rielle rushed back and forth, slashing the dragon. Her powerful attacks cut through the dragon's flesh, but something was wrong. Rather than weakening it, they only made it more angry. It smashed its claws into the ground, barely missing as she dodged. Before she could counter its attack, a wall of bones shot up from the ground around her. 

 

_ Was that one of Nox’s attacks? _

 

Rielle spun around, narrowing her eyes at Nox, but to her surprise he was busy fighting off another enemy. The dragon roared and swung its tail, crushing the bone cage, striking her and launching her backwards.

 

Rielle stabbed her blade into the ground and attempted to catch her breath.  _ HP is at 45%... Did it critical with that attack? There's no way. _

 

She looked around the battlefield. They were holding their ground, but unless they did something soon the dragon would just summon more minions and overwhelm them.

 

"Blaze! Amar! Fall back to me! Goden and Nox, hold the front line for 30 seconds!" she shouted.

 

Amaranth quickly opened a portal and the two met Rielle at her location.

"Listen, I don't have much time. Amar, I'm going to need a portal connecting 15 meters in front of where I'm standing right now to directly above the dragon. Blaze, I'm going to need as many flame runes as you can put down in a line between me and that portal."

 

"Rielle, you do know that those aren't without friendly fire. You're going to take serious damage if you run through them,” Blaze replied.

 

"I know... but you'll have to trust me. If I don't make it, watch-"

 

"Don't say things like that!" Amaranth interrupted.

 

Across the battlefield, Goden shouted at them. "Rielle! Five seconds!"

 

"Go!" she commanded. Amaranth quickly laid the portal in front of her. Blaze raised both of his axes into the air and crashed them into the ground, making a line of flame runes before them. Rielle stood up and firmly held her sword, the circuits in her body burning with the same light that emitted from the blade. She held it with both hands with the edge of her blade on the first rune.

 

"Three... Two... One... Front lines, fall back!"

 

The two out on the field quickly dashed away from the dragon. Rielle then charged through the flame runes Blaze placed, each one exploding in fire as her sword was dragged through them. But the flames barely damaged her, and instead her sword enveloped itself in Blaze's flames. She reached the end of the path and quickly charged through the portal.

 

In a flash, Rielle appeared through the portal above the dragon, her sword erupting with a massive flame. They could see her body glowing with bright blue light. With a great slash, Rielle brought the flaming sword down and struck through the dragon's body. An explosion of scarlet and azure flames burst forth from the attack, completely engulfing the dragon. The beast fell to the ground, letting out a horrid cry as the life left its body, its scales seared black.

 

As the flames began to dissipate, they saw Rielle slowly walking away from the dragon's corpse. The blade in her hand slowly dissolved back into mana and returned to her arm.

 

As they gradually regrouped at the center of the fort, they heard the guards begin to shout and cheer for their victory.

 

Rielle looked to the group. "Well, that was a thing." She had a faint smile.

 

"It still doesn't make sense, though,” Amaranth began. "Where did that dragon come from? Why attack here again like in the game?"

 

"Ah, don't ya worry about it, bud. We'll talk about that later! Right now, we should be excited that Rielle's back and we killed a bloody dragon! Haha!" Blaze said, laughing and patting her on the back.

 

"Yeah, I..." Rielle started.

 

Suddenly Rielle felt a shift in the air, and quickly turned behind her only to see the blade of a dagger bearing down on her. Rielle raised her left arm in an attempt to block, but the blade stabbed deeply through her forearm. She clutched the wound and looked up to see Nox in front of her.

 

With his other dagger in hand ready to attack again, he began speaking in a low and gravelly tone. "That was supposed to kill you. The dragon... was supposed to kill you. You were supposed to die, Rielle! Why... won't... you... die?!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spooky


	14. Isolation

Chapter 14 - Isolation

 

The moans and cries of the remaining undead horde began to fade as they sunk back into the sea. The sky opened up and rain started to pour on the island.

 

Rielle looked up at Nox in shock, still clutching the dagger piercing through her left arm. Undeterred, he jabbed his other dagger towards her chest. Her hand snapped from the wound in her arm to grab Nox’s wrist. He scowled as he struggled to push the dagger towards her, but she pushed back.

 

Blaze grabbed Nox by his arm and tore him away from her. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Blaze yelled.

 

Nox stood silently, staring at the ground. His breath was heavy and he tightened his grip on his remaining dagger. "It should have..." he murmured. "It should have killed you."

 

Goden stepped forward. "What are you talking about Nox? The dragon? Why...?"

 

"Sh-shut up, Goden!" Nox yelled. "Shut up shut up shut up! The voices... There are so many... It was... my duty to..." He lunged at Rielle again with his dagger raised. She immediately braced herself for the attack, but Blaze rushed in with a tackle that pushed Nox to the ground a few meters away.

 

Nox gripped his forehead as blood ran down the side of his face. "You... Rielle, you were supposed to die. I can't... I can't do this. My duty... How did it expect me to do this?"

 

Amaranth ran to Rielle's side, pulling the dagger from the wound, and began healing her arm. 

 

Blaze stood between Rielle and Nox as he slowly walked towards him. "You need to start making some sense very quickly or you may regret it, kid."

 

He started panicking and holding his head. "No... No no no no! I can't! There's no way. They're too strong and they've fucking defeated the help you sent me. The trap was a failure just like I am. No!" Nox began shaking.

 

Blaze grabbed Nox by his collar and raised him in the air. "WHO SENT YOU?" he screamed with rage in Nox's face. Flames began to spin around Blaze's feet as he gripped so tightly Nox began to choke.

 

"Let him down!" Goden yelled as he swung a fist at Blaze's jaw. The hit connected but Blaze remained unmoved. The flames at Blaze's feet dissipated and he threw Nox into Goden, pushing the two of them onto the ground. Blaze growled as he turned back towards Rielle.

 

Goden helped the two of them to their feet. "Ugh... Okay, now what the bloody hell is going on here, Nox?"

 

He pushed away from Goden's arms and stumbled back. "I... I've lied to all of you. I've lied since the very beginning when we came to this world."

 

"Nox..." Goden began. "That's impossible! I've known you since we were both kids. We went to school together! We worked together! We've played games together for years. I know you wouldn't do this."

 

"You know nothing, friend,” Nox said quietly. "There's been this feeling of dread over me for years and yet you never noticed. Not once! Nobody noticed... So when we became trapped in this world I knew it was over. I had hoped this world could free me from my despair and yet here I am. That... That was when it came to me."

 

Nox raised his arm and a dark aura surrounded his fist. He slammed it into the ground and an immense shock wave of darkness erupted from him. The soldiers in the courtyard stood frozen as if their blood had turned to ice. Goden and the party stood stunned as a chill as cold as the void ran down their spines.

 

"The emptiness. The despair. The darkness became my power. The class Necromancer was given to me by this power, but it didn't seem like normal abilities from a game. This power... The overwhelming darkness... I embraced it happily and it made me stronger."

 

Goden clenched his fists. "So you were really into your class. So what? That doesn't mean you need to start killing people like a crazy player-killer!"

 

"No! That's not what this is about. You don't understand! Why does nobody ever understand?" Nox began shaking again. "I can't... The voices continue to torment me over and over and yet I can't do what they want. I cannot fulfill the one task that was given to me."

 

Nox began to raise one of his daggers into the air above him. The dark aura emitted from him and surrounded his blade furiously. Blaze drew a flaming axe and guarded Rielle and Amaranth.

 

"Stop! Nox, no!" Goden rushed towards him, screaming, but it was too late. Nox drove the dagger into his own abdomen and ripped it up deeper into his rib cage. The dark aura faded and and a rush of thick blood and bile tore from his throat. Nox fell to his knees with a sick look of relief on his face.

 

Goden grabbed him and held him up. "No, what the fuck? Don't do this! Why? Why why why?"

 

"I had to-" Nox began as more blood poured from his mouth. "-cut out the pain of the voices." His eyes began to slip closed as Goden let him fall to the ground. Goden dropped breathlessly to his knees as he watched the life fade from Nox's eyes.

 

Blaze sheathed his weapon and the three of them slowly walked towards Goden and his friend. 

 

"I...", Amaranth began.

 

"Don't say anything,” Goden interrupted. He got to his feet, looked towards the storming clouds, and cried out from the bottom of his lungs. Everyone turned away from Nox’s body, rage, confusion, and torment filling the group.

 

Unbeknownst to them, a dark haze began creeping over Nox's body. The shadow seemed to pull the lifeless body back onto its feet. Dead bones cracked as they began to move again. The others spun around in shock at the sound. 

 

"N-Nox...?" Goden whispered. 

 

Nox's limbs began to jerk unnaturally, bone and sinew snapping into place with a series of sickening crackling sounds.

 

"Lies...! I was... free finally. How is... this?" Nox growled, faltering. He looked down at his body as it moved on its own. Nox started grunting and moaning as his body shook violently.

 

"H-How is he still alive?" Amaranth cried. "Did Nox reanimate himself?"

 

Suddenly Nox grew silent. His arms went limp as his head fell forward and his hair covered his face. With a shout, Nox's head jerked back and his neck cracked loudly. He pushed his hair back out of his face and up over his head. "Ah... That certainly is better. Comfortable even. This body, I mean..."

 

Rielle stepped forward and a shortsword appeared in her hand. "You... You're not Nox, are you?"

 

"How kind of you to finally notice, Rielle. You are a smart one, I'll give you that," The deep and grumbling voice responded from Nox's body.

 

She raised the sword towards him. "Then who, may I ask, are you? And how did you make it into his body? Are you a servant of Zhaitan?"

 

"Wait, Zhaitan?" Amaranth began. "But I thought it was supposed to be-"

 

"Dead?" the voice responded. "It's a shame really... but I've seen enough. Learned enough. I've come to realize what you are, Rielle, even if you haven't. This boy actually proved useful after all." The voice began laughing deeply, the tones of its laughter like the scratching of a record player. "Oh this poor Necromancer. He lived a good life. Short, but good."

 

Nox's body looked to the floor again and the voice grumbled even deeper. "I guess I'll... have to make another one." Nox's arm rose and a bolt of the dark aura shot from it. The chilling power struck the rotting corpse of the nearby dragon and an explosion of flesh and bone blew from within. Suddenly, a chunk of the corpse’s flesh and bone ripped away, trailing blood and gore in its wake as it flew to Nox with a wave of darkness and into his hand. The flesh and bone fused itself into the shape of a greatsword that Nox gripped tightly. A deep howl tore from Nox's body and it charged at Rielle and the others with the blade.

 

Blaze quickly drew one of his axes and smashed it into the ground between them and their attacker. A wall of flame rose from the earth, but Nox simply cut through it and leapt at Blaze. He blocked Nox's attack with a bracer of his armour, but the hardened carrion of the blade started to cut through it like acid meeting metal.

 

He jumped back, and Amaranth rushed in between them, sending a flurry of jabs at Nox with his swords. Nox blocked the attacks quickly with the side of his greatsword and let out a vicious growl. He swung the greatsword heavily from the ground, and Amaranth barely managed to block the attack as it sent him stumbling back. Amaranth scrambled to his feet and glanced at his rapiers. Nox's blade had completely eaten away at them, dulling one and splitting the other in two.

 

Nox charged at Rielle again, but before she could react, Goden blocked the attack with his own greatsword. 

 

"Move!" she shouted at him. "He'll only destroy your weapon!"

 

The voice from Nox let out its menacing laughter as he crossed blades with Goden. A bright glow burst forth from Goden's blade as he pushed Nox's back.

 

"You're not the only one who's learned an elite skill. Now let him free!" Goden shouted. The light spread to his armour and Nox jumped back. Goden looked Nox in the eye. "Walking Fortress!" he yelled.

 

Nox relentlessly brought the greatsword down upon Goden again and again, but his blade only scuffed Goden's armour, not harming him at all. Goden slammed the pommel of his greatsword into Nox's stomach causing him to double over in pain. He then picked Nox up by an arm and tossed him forward. "Rielle, now!" Goden shouted.

 

Azureflame appeared in Rielle's hand, and she drew it back. She fired a flurry of arrows into the sky, but instead of striking Nox, they pinned his feet to the ground. Goden took a stance with his blade pointed at Nox, glowing brighter than before, the light flowing from his armour and into his greatsword. 

 

He rushed at Nox and with a quick blinding strike. Goden used the light to cut through Nox's sword, embedding his blade in Nox's chest. The dark voice screamed loudly as the shadows seemed to leave Nox's eyes.

 

Goden dropped his blade and held Nox up in his arms. The party rushed over to join them. The rain slowly began to let up as the clouds began to clear.

 

"Is he..." Amaranth began. "He's done, isn't he?"

 

"It looks like it," Goden replied. "A faint light remains in his eyes, but I think..."

 

Rielle kneeled down beside Nox and Goden. "Hey..." she said as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Nox... Hey, look, the sun is coming up." Goden slowly sat Nox up further so he was facing the horizon. Rielle spoke softly, "Do you want to watch the sunrise together, Nox?"

 

He managed a slight cough and began to speak. "I can't see it. It's dark... That's okay though. I can... finally be alone."

 

That faint light slowly dissipated from Nox's eyes, and Goden eased them shut as he laid Nox's body back onto the ground.

 

Rielle stood and raised her hood over her face as she started to walk away. "Let's... go home."

 

As Blaze and Amaranth started to follow her they looked towards Goden. "No," he said. "No I'm not going home with you."

 

Rielle stopped and looked back at him. "You can carry him back if you wish, or we can have people take care of him and have a service tomorrow. I'll do him justice, I promise."

 

"This isn't about that," Goden said as he stood over Nox's body. "We can't... No, I can't do this. I'm taking him somewhere important to him by myself. Consider this my resignation from the guild as well. It's been great, really it has. However after all this... I'm not sure I can keep going with you."

 

"We'll make it through-" Amaranth began.

 

"No!" Goden said with a stern look on his face. "I'm done. This is it."

 

"What are you going to do?" Blaze replied.

 

"I don't know... but I'll figure that out after I bury my best friend."

 

They boarded two different boats at the docks of Claw Island: Rielle's group, carrying Blaze and Amaranth, headed west towards The Grove and DRGN HQ, Goden headed south with Nox’s corpse in a direction he didn't specify. They waved towards Goden as they departed, but he only looked down and away.

 


	15. Azure

Chapter 15 - Azure

 

Three hours had passed since the events of Claw Island, the battle with Zhaitan's dragon spawn, and their guild mate Nox's passing. It was about 9 AM, and the remaining members of the guild had made their way back to DRGN HQ. The three of them sat on the rocky beaches nearby.

 

Blaze brought a tin pot of coffee with three mugs and sat them on a flat stone between them. He poured the coffee and handed a mug to each of them.

 

"I hope it's at least hot coffee," Amaranth mumbled at him.

 

Blaze gave him a look. "Do you really expect me to bring cold coffee? Cold coffee?"

 

"I suppose not."

 

Blaze let out a faint laugh and the two attempted a smile at each other while Rielle just sat there, quietly staring into her mug.

 

The three of them barely made a sound for a few minutes, until Rielle finally spoke up. "If I had come back sooner, maybe I could have-"

 

"Now don't be going thinking things like that," Blaze remarked.

 

"Blaze is right," Amaranth chimed in. "If we just sit here contemplating what happened we'll never-"

 

Rielle interrupted him with a low voice mostly directed into her mug. "Nox tried to kill me, Amar. He wanted me dead. He said that the  _ entire purpose _ of being with us was so that he could kill me." She set the mug aside and looked out towards the sea. "I only wonder if... I only wonder if there was more I could have done. That's all. Maybe he didn't have to be used. Maybe he didn't have to end up the way he did."

 

"Maybe ya could have stopped him?" Blaze said. "I don't think so, really."

 

"No? You don’t think so?" she asked in a calm tone.

 

"Exactly. I think his heart was set from the beginning. Nox had decided long before meeting us that he wouldn't let someone get close to him again, even if he knew he could trust them." Blaze stood and suddenly tossed his empty mug far out into the ocean. "He threw away everything that everyone gave him without even realizing it."

 

Amaranth stood up as well. "Well put, Blaze. Now swim out there and retrieve your mug."

 

Blaze laughed. "Nah, Pricklepants. I'll just commission someone to make us another one. See? Problem solved." Amaranth rolled his eyes.

 

"’Just make another one…’" Rielle mumbled. "Zhaitan said that. Do you think that's how Nox was so easy for him to manipulate?"

 

"Could be," Blaze replied. "Ahhh, well, I'm tired of this. Let's go back inside... Blaze needs a nap!" The three of them shared a laugh at Blaze and proceeded back inside the castle.

When they were settled back in, Amaranth began pulling lounge chairs up to the fireplace in the living quarters of their main hall. "Blaze, be a dear, would you, and get that fire going?" he said.

 

"Aw, but, Branches...." Blaze grumbled.

 

"No but's!" Amaranth replied, snapping his fingers at him.

 

"This place really hasn't changed, has it?" Rielle quietly laughed.

 

"You've been gone for almost three months. Somebody had to keep this place from falling apart," Amaranth said. "Now take a seat and tell us where you went for so long!" He seemed oddly serious all of a sudden. Or seriously interested, at the very least.

 

The three of them sat near the absurdly large fire Blaze had made in the fireplace. Amaranth didn't even bother to roll his eyes at him this time. He instead made some tea as the flames eventually died down to a reasonable size.

 

"Well, I suppose I should start then," Rielle said as she reached her marked arm out towards the flames. "These markings... or etchings, rather, are mana carved into my skin like circuits on a motherboard of a computer."

 

"So do they... transfer data, then?" Blaze asked.

 

"Well, not really. They transfer mana in a raw form, or at least they did."

 

"What do you mean they ‘did’? Obviously they still work, or they did at Claw Island," Amaranth replied.

 

"About that... Let me start from the beginning," Rielle said and took a sip of the warm tea. "In the game there were always these rumors of dragons and whatnot, so I decided to go to a place where all knowledge and records should technically be kept from those games."

 

"The Durmond Priory?" Amaranth interjected. "Goden and I scoped that place out and all we found was this confusing old guy who could breath fire."

 

"I see..." Rielle said as she looked into the flames of the fireplace. "I wonder if he was…” She looked away. “No, it doesn't matter now. That wasn't where I headed. I broke into a place a bit more cut off from the rest of the world than that. The hidden library of the Royal Palace itself, in Divinity's Reach."

 

"The Royal Palace?" Amaranth said, confused.

 

"Yeah y'know, as one does." Blaze laughed.

 

Rielle gave a chuckle as well. "Yeah, no big deal. Just casually found myself there one night.” She shook her head. “No, after I had left here I made my way there looking for an armorsmith that could make a coat for me that could raise my stats or something. Still grasping at straws, I guess."

 

"Oh yeah, you took those materials with you that we got from that bizarre dungeon? The Dreamweave Cloth, it was?"

 

"Correct, along with some things I already had in my inventory for some reason when we all woke up here. I'm thinking the game left those in my inventory when my ‘character’ transferred over?" she replied. "Regardless, that didn't matter. The armorsmith I found to make my coat actually mentioned something about buying his skill books from a sylvari woman who had broken into a special library of the Palace, so I felt inclined to check there for information."

 

"Sounds too good to be true, if I may add," Blaze remarked.

 

Rielle grew quiet and looked down again. "I... I didn't want to keep relying on all of you for everything, and then have you make me some armour on top of it too."

 

"I didn't mean-" Blaze began, before she interrupted him again.

 

"It's okay. No, really, don't worry about it,” she said. “Anyway, so in this library I found this old and dusty tome... among other things... and learned some lore we had never known about about these dragons."

 

"Like how there's more dragons than just the Elder ones that are old and powerful?" Amaranth asked.

 

"Your old-man friend tell you that?" Rielle said, laughing. "You're right, actually. So that's when I decided my path. I needed to find one of these other powerful dragons, and maybe I could get some answers out of it. Each seemed to have unique abilities and it named all of the Elder Dragons so I had reason to believe it. One in the South, one in Elona, one in Cantha, and one to the North."

 

"So where did you end up?"

 

"Something kept drawing me to the north. There was no name for this dragon in the tome, but every time my fingers brushed over the crude sketch of this one in the book, I felt some kind of connection. It seemed bizarre to me. It seemed so alluring, like it was trying to reach out to me. I ripped the page from the book, gathered some supplies in town, and left Tyria on this journey of mine."

 

"Your little journey of self-discovery or whatever. Hah, it seems so like you," Blaze said, cackling so hard he spilled his tea on the wooden floor.

 

Rielle laughed with him, or  _ at _ him. "It really was. I journeyed far past what's known as Tyria. Past Hoelbrak, past Jormag's frozen domain... I found myself in this mountain range that seemed to span for miles and miles on end. The cliffs were cold and frigid, but the valleys seemed warm and inviting. It was beautiful, really."

 

"I'm sorry, Rielle, but remember that thing about Blaze needing a nap?" he said, laughing again. "Come on! Get to the good part where you become a badass!"

 

"Alright, alright. Haha, fine, you win!" Rielle finished the last sip of her tea and stood up, walking closer to the fireplace as she spoke. "What I found was a cave system deep within these mountains. There was no sign of anyone for miles. It was so quiet and peaceful, like there were no troubles in the world. This was where the book hinted that this dragon lived. When I found the entrance to these caves, the mana circuits in my arm and chest burned, but it didn't feel like pain. It felt like I was getting closer, like they were trying to push me forward.

 

“I continued through the huge cave system, and as I found myself deeper and deeper, i found these crystals in the walls. The crystals glowed with a bright blue glow, similar to the one in my skin. They were strangely warm, and when I did they burst into this blue flame. The strangest thing was that it wasn't painful at all. The flames were like a warm embrace that was oddly comforting. That was when I met who I had been seeking. I met... Her."

 

Rielle grabbed her empty mug and headed towards the kitchens. 

 

"Hey! What the hell, Rielle?" Blaze said, surprised. "Don't end on that! That's such a cliffhanger!" They heard a faint laugh from the kitchens, and eventually Rielle came back with a glass of water in hand.

 

"Sorry, you know I wouldn't do you like that," she said, and took a sip from the glass. "Sorry, but I had to mess with you at least a little."

 

Blaze grumbled and stretched in his seat. "So who's this mysterious lady you met in the magic blue cave?"

 

"Dragon, actually," Rielle replied. "This dragon was massive, about the size of our castle. Her scales glistened with a remarkable blueish glow nearly the same colour of the crystals within the cave. As she woke, the dragon gently moved her head close to me and I laid my hand on the side of her face. When I did, the mana circuits in my arm and chest burned so bright It almost blinded me."

 

"So you obviously had some sort of connection with this dragon, then?" Amaranth said.

 

"It was amazing, really. The dragon then lifted her head and stretched her wings. She began to speak, and it was as if I could hear her voice in my head. She introduced herself simply as the Azure Dragon."

 

"Yeah y'know, as one does," Blaze said, laughing again.

 

Rielle smiled as she examined the circuitry in her skin, her fingers tracing the etchings. "She explained to me that we had a connection, or that she had created one when our world became the way it is currently. Apparently the timing was right, she said, and that it needed to be done. There was a problem, however, and that was why the power she was giving me wasn't working the way it was supposed to."

 

"So you've been using a dragon's power this whole time?" Amaranth asked.

 

"In a way, yes," Rielle replied. "She said that the dragons of old made a bond with certain humans and transferred mana between them so that they could fight an opposing threat. This bond the Azure Dragon and I shared was like that. There was a problem though. She was dying."

 

"What do ya mean she was dying?" Blaze asked. "Was something killing her? Was she being hunted and attacked by some prick?"

 

"No, not at all, it turns out. She was dying of old age, ironically enough. The dragon said she had lived for thousands and thousands of years, waiting for the right person to make this connection with. I didn't understand it really. Why would she have chosen me? She told me it didn't matter, though, and there was nothing I could do about her death. That was when she gave me a task."

 

"A task?" Amaranth said with a strange look on his face. "What? Kill Zhaitan? Sorry Ms. Dragon, already working on that."

 

"Well..." Rielle started again. "It was a bit more specific than that. Apparently because she was dying and this bond wasn't working the way it would have thousands of years ago. The Azure Dragon spoke of giving me the massive amount of mana within her, in its most raw and pure form."

 

Amaranth spoke up again. "Damn, wouldn't that kill you, Rielle?"

 

"It should have without her help, actually," she replied. "If it wasn't for what she had me do next, I wouldn't be here. The dragon told me that when she passed her mana to me and finally passed away, I would need to use her body as a catalyst for her power."

 

"Your sword..." Blaze said softly. "You crafted the sword from her scales, didn't you?"

 

Rielle grew quiet again and continued to stare into the flames.

 

Blaze stood and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm jealous! You got to work with one of the rarest materials in this world and made a fantastic weapon out of it!"

 

"Not to mention her obvious bond with the Azure Dragon, Blaze," Amaranth added.

 

"Yeah..." Rielle spoke up again. "She had me use her scales and the obsidian ore found in the crystal caverns to make the sword. The stone’s affinity with her mana that now resided in me let me harness the power as if she was still alive."

 

"So after you were done, you came back to Tyria?" Amaranth asked.

 

"Correct. It wasn't long before I made it back to Lion's Arch, sword in hand. When I arrived I noticed that I had just missed the four of you leaving. By the time I caught up with you, I learned you had taken a ship to Claw Island."

 

The three of them stared into the flames one more time. "Thanks for bringing us back up to speed, Rielle," Blaze said softly.

 

The three of them stood, and Rielle put the flames out with a bit of sand. They began up the stairs to their rooms for some well-deserved rest.

 

Amaranth stopped them just as they headed down the hallway. "By the way, what did you name the sword you forged in the cave, Rielle?"

 

She looked down at her right hand, the mana circuits glowing very faintly, and gently clenched her fist.

 

"Azure Edge."

 


	16. Some Good Brews

Chapter 16 - Some Good Brews

 

It was a brisk morning at the DRGN's guildhall. Since the battle at Claw Island, Rielle spent most of her mornings up at the castle's battlements. She leaned over the chest high walls, staring out at the waves rolling in, sipping a cup of coffee.

 

Rielle took a deep breath. "I could have stopped him..." she said to herself.

 

Amaranth suddenly appeared behind her. "Still reminiscing with the ocean and your mug of coffee?" he asked.

 

"Hey," she replied. "At least I didn't use a coffee liqueur as creamer this morning."

 

"True. By the way, Rielle, you should really stop letting people sneak up on you like this. What if I would have turned and stabbed you in the back?" Amaranth said sarcastically.

 

Rielle sighed. "Forty-eight seconds ago you came out of the main hall's doors and into the castle grounds. You then proceeded to go up the eastern battlements, before you must have realized I was on the western side since it faced the ocean and came over here."

 

"I... Fine, you win," he said with a smirk on his face as he shrugged. Amaranth walked up and leaned forward on the wall next to her. "So, Miss Leader, now that you're back, what's your first plan of action?"

 

She laid her head on Amaranth's shoulder. "I'm just tired, Amar. I can't help but wonder what all this is about."

 

Rielle lifted her head as Amaranth turned around and leaned his back against the battlements. "You and me both, friend." He let out a sigh and looked towards the sky. "With all of our guild's resources I've still yet to find any real answers. Yes, we know there's some dragons about, but..."

 

"I understand, don't worry," she replied. " I think that-"

 

She was interrupted by the sound of a large crash from inside the castle followed by a loud cry of "Gahhhhhh!"

 

"Huh, Blaze must be mad that we're out of bourbon," Rielle said, unsurprised.

 

Blaze came bursting out of the main doors with flames whipping across the ground. "We need to leave! Rielle! Amaranth! Get your things because we need to go booze shopping!"

 

The two of them both jumped from the battlements down to the castle grounds where Blaze stood. 

 

Amaranth held his palms forward, trying to calm him down. "Blaze, I really don't think it's a good idea for us to go into town for a few days. Zhaitan's spies are going to be running about and-"

 

"I could care less about Dragonface's minions! Ya' surely can't expect me to stick around here with nothing to do AND no hearty booze supply."

 

"He's right, Amar," Rielle started. "Maybe we should head out and get a pint somewhere inconspicuous?"

 

"Alright, if you insist,” Amaranth said reluctantly. “I do know of a pub just south of the Priory in Lonar's Pass that has some pretty good brews. Should we head there?" Rielle and Blaze both nodded with stars in their eyes.

Rielle and the guild soon arrived at the pub Amaranth had mentioned. It was in a small village just south of the Priory, but since it was near the major roadway it seemed to get a lot of visitors. As they walked in they were surprised to see so many people in the pub, talking and drinking, considering the time of day.

 

"I love how the first thing we did is find a place to grab a drink," Amaranth said sarcastically.

 

"Hey, Rielle said we needed to lay low, so..." Blaze replied.

 

They grabbed a table near the back and the waitress came over to take their drink order. Not to long after she returned with three huge pints of the local brew for them.

 

"So, Blaze," Rielle began, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but did I see you firing a bloody Charrzooka during the fight at the Island? Where in Tyria did you get that thing?"

 

Blaze immediately had a huge grin on his face. "Well, ya see, about that. I, uh, acquired it from a Charr... specialist... guy in the Black Citadel. He was, uh, selling it because he... didn't need it anymore! Yeah! That was exactly what had happened."

 

"You stole it, didn't you?" she replied bluntly.

 

"Hey! What? I thought I was leveling up my thieving skill! Does it not work that way?"

 

"So I'm assuming that the Charr noticed you. What did you do when he found out?" Amaranth asked.

 

"Well if you think the smell of burnt chest hair is bad, hah! Wait until you smell burnt fur of a Charr." The other two just looked at Blaze blankly. "What? I didn't know it worked that way!"

 

As the three of them laughed at Blaze's misadventure they were suddenly interrupted by some commotion near the entrance of the pub. A man had barged in and was yelling at the owner that someone was attacking.

Rielle and the others rushed to the front of the pub to ask the man what had happened.

 

"They just attacked us out of nowhere! You have to help us; we've been overrun! There was fire everywhere!" The man yelled.

 

"Hold on, sir. Calm down and tell us exactly what happened," Amaranth said.

 

"T-Timberline Falls! Our village is being attacked by these men in dark robes. My father sent me here with a horse to get help. Please! You have to come with me!"

 

Amaranth nodded, and the guild rushed out of the pub with the man. It wasn't far to the next village, but by the time they arrived, only a few of the cloaked attackers were still there. Two of them were taking torches to the houses, the dry wood quickly going up in flames, while another slit the throats of the remaining injured villagers as they lie helplessly on the ground.

 

Rielle reached out her arm, the light from the circuits forming into a bow in her hands. Without hesitation, she fired an arrow at one of the cloaked men, but they didn't even react to being struck.

 

"Rielle, did you... miss?" Amaranth asked as he unsheathed his weapons, eyes narrowed.

 

"No, the arrow passed directly through his arm and he didn't even flinch," she responded. Rielle took a few more steps forward and slowly lowered her bow. "I.. I recognize these people. They're players..."

 

The attackers just stared at them with their weapons drawn. 

 

"What do you think you're doing?" Rielle yelled. "You're all from Blood Oath, aren't you? What would drive you to attack a village and kill all of these people?"

 

The cloaked players didn't respond to a single one of Rielle's questions. One of them rushed between the rest of their group and used a recall spell to teleport away from the village. Within an instant all of the attackers had vanished.

 

"You hesitated, Rielle, and now they're all gone," Blaze said calmly.

 

"I knew a couple of those people. I recognized their player names from when I ran with Blood Oath all those years ago.”

 

"What do you think this means, Rielle?" Amaranth asked. "Surely you don't think an entire guild would go postal and just start killing people? Especially not NPCs..."

 

"I'm not sure," she replied. "But what I  _ do _ know is where we can find answers. I kept in contact with one of the members I was longtime friends with when we came to this world. At one point in our letters, my contact mentioned where their guild hall was. That's where we're going to get to the bottom of this."

 

"So much for laying low." Blaze laughed. "Let's make sure we stop at home on the way there, though. That old Charrzooka of mine is itching for some more fun!"

 


	17. Knights of Blood

Chapter 17 - Knights of Blood

 

The three guildmates rushed from their nearest waypoint in Lion's Arch and quickly sneaked passed the crowds of the city. They followed Rielle, who led them in and out of alleyways towards the city's northern exit.

 

"Rielle!" Amaranth whispered. She had stopped them at the corner of an alley with the city's exit within sight. "Look, I know you want to find your contact, but where exactly are we going?"

 

"Shh! I'll explain once we're out of the city. Look over to our right in that small crowd outside of that weapons shop. Two of the men in that crowd keep glancing over our way."

 

Blaze crept closer to the corner they were hiding behind. He reached for his belt and pulled out a small flintlock pistol that was black with gold etchings down the barrel. When Rielle noticed she put her hand over Blaze's gun. "What the hell do you think you're doing? We can't kill them in the middle of the city."

 

Blaze simply grinned at her. "Don't tell me yer getting soft now, lass. Besides, you need a distraction 'er else we're never getting to that exit."

 

"Blaze, it will cause a-" Rielle said before suddenly falling silent. She squinted and looked over to the crowd once more. "Wait, is that...?"

 

A man in chainmail with a grey hood walked over to the men watching the exit.

 

"Damn, is that Goden? What the hell is he doing back in Tyria?" Blaze said.

 

"Yeah, we assumed he left the area and went south towards Cantha. More importantly though, why is he talking to the creeps?" Amaranth replied. 

 

Goden looked hesitantly around him but didn't notice his former guild spying on them. He handed a bag of what they assumed were coins to the men and they followed him away from the weapons shop and down another side street.

Rielle patted Blaze on the shoulder and motioned towards the city's exit. The three of them hurried to the gate and left the city unnoticed.

 

They continued running after passing through the gate, until they reached a small outpost away from viewing distance of the city.

 

"You know, as much as I would have loved to ask our friend why he was doing shady dealings with the men potentially spying on us for the Dragon of the Undead, I think that was about as perfect of an opportunity to leave as we'll ever get," Amaranth said, laughing as he caught his breath.

 

"Yer damn right, bud!" Blaze replied. "Hah, that's a new one! Get it? Bud, like a... flower...bud." 

 

Rielle and Amaranth just stared at him with blank faces. 

 

"What the hell, guys? That was a good one!"

 

Rielle pretended to sigh until she couldn't hold in her laughter. "I'm sorry, I couldn't keep it in, Amar. Dammit, Blaze!" Amaranth genuinely sighed and rolled his eyes at them.

 

He cupped the hilt of one of his rapiers. "Well I'm at least glad we're out of that mess. Having to sneak around towns is getting to be a bother,” he said. “Anyway, Rielle, where are we headed now?"

 

She waved for them to keep moving down the narrow path. "We're headed for a particularly unique tavern, actually."

 

"Oh come on, we're not going to get anywhere with this if we just keep drinking ourselves into a stupor every night!" Amaranth scolded.

 

Blaze grabbed Amaranth by the arm. "Have faith, bud! Hehe... Ya can never go wrong when Rielle wants to go grab a pint!"

 

They continued down the road and eventually made their way to a small bay connected to the lake north of the city. Standing before them was a huge pirate ship that looked like it had wrecked against the rocks on the shore a few years ago. The beached ship itself had been refashioned instead into a permanent tavern on the land.

 

"The Beached Whale..." Amaranth noted. "Clever... I think?"

 

Upon arriving, Rielle immediately led them to the bartender. He raised a brow at her. "What you want, lass? We got ale and that so find a table if you're here for a drink or two."

 

She reached for the inner pocket of her long black coat and pulled out a small necklace, the red gemstone pendant embedded with a silver crest. She placed the necklace on the counter and said quietly, "The Knights of Blood have returned from their crusade."

 

The bartender cleared his throat and motioned for them to follow him behind the bar to a back room. "It's been a long time, sister, but you haven't been forgotten."

 

"Thank you, sir. I-"

 

"Be warned, though, sister. The blood has been spilled and the Oath has been forgotten by many. Enter this place with caution." The bartender reached behind a small end table and a loud  _ clunk _ was heard. He hurriedly lifted up the carpet in the room and the floor began to open up, revealing a staircase underneath. The bartender gave the three of them a nod and left the room, closing the door behind him.

 

Blaze pointed his arms at the hidden staircase. "Will you ever cease to surprise us, Rielle? Oh well, ladies first!"

 

As they proceeded down the dark hall beneath the tavern Blaze started sniffing the air. "That's definitely smoke, which is definitely a bad thing."

 

"Are you sure?" Amaranth asked. "I don't smell anything."

 

"Believe me, it comes with the job description. Lord of the Blaze, remember? That's smoke, which means that's fire." He laughed.

 

They continued down to a large opening that lead into an even larger hall. The barrels of ale and the drapes along the walls and doorways were burning. 

 

"This is recent," Rielle said. "Whoever's done this should still be around. Spread out!"

 

The three of them ran through the underground ruins, checking individual corridors for possible survivors or the attackers that caused this mess. The Blood Oath's hidden guildhall was in shambles, engulfed in flames. Blaze and Amaranth ran into each other again as they met in the guild's barracks.

 

"Shit! This place is a mess of flames and dead players. Have you found anything yet?" Amaranth frantically asked him.

 

"Nah, I've yet to find anyone either.” Blaze noticed a limb reaching out from under a pile of rubble. “Wait! Behind you, under that bookcase!"

 

The two of them rushed to raise the burning bookcase off of the young man. He was obviously a member of Blood Oath, as they noticed the emblem on his jacket. The kid coughed the smoke from his throat, and slowly opened his eyes.

 

Blaze quickly opened his party menu to contact their leader. "Rielle! We've got a live one. Get yer blue ass to the eastern barracks before-"

 

As Blaze spoke, another man in a black cloak appeared in the barracks archway. His eyes glowed red like the flames that roared throughout the hall.

 

Rielle spoke over the party chat. "Blaze! What was that, Blaze? Where are-"

 

Blaze eased the member of Blood Oath onto Amaranth's lap and stood. "Don't worry, I've got this one."

 

The cloaked man drew a longsword from his back and let out an awful shrieking cry. He charged at Blaze, but the warrior of flames didn't flinch. Blaze reached out his arm and the fire around them in the hall gathered to his body. The flames covered his limbs, and Blaze rushed at his attacker.

 

The enemy's sword came down at Blaze's shoulder, but with a swift jab Blaze punched through the steel itself. The blade snapped at Blaze's flaming fist. 

 

With a quick twist, Blaze round-house kicked his enemy's jaw, launching the cloaked man against the adjacent wall. His face connected with the stone, leaving  a smear of blood as he slid down the wall to the ground.

 

Blaze's stance relaxed slightly as he reached his arm out towards the center of the room. In an instant the remaining burning flames in the barracks flew to Blaze's body, putting out the fires covering the hall. Blaze let out a heavy breath and backed towards Amaranth and their young friend.

 

Rielle appeared in the archway of the barracks and froze when she noticed the cloaked man's corpse. "Blaze, Amar! Were you two attacked?"

 

"Yeah, but Blaze here responded quickly," Amaranth replied. "I'm sure you wanted to interrogate them, but I doubted it would do much good so I let him take care of things."

 

"Wow, thanks bud. Haha, I needed that, though," Blaze said, grinning as he cracked his fingers.

 

Rielle sighed. "You're probably right. So then, who's this? A survivor? Here, take this." She said as she handed the young man a restoration potion. The kid drank the potion in one gulp and began coughing again.

 

"T-t-thanks, miss. W-who are you people?" the young man said.

 

Rielle smiled and kneeled down with him and Amaranth. "I'm a long-time friend of Blood Oath, and these are my comrades. We're here to help. Can you tell me if there's anyone that might have escaped before the attacks?"

 

The kid coughed before speaking again. "I-I'm not sure, but I believe some of the officers left yesterday. People have been coming and going a lot lately and the higher-ups got into a huge argument a couple days ago. I-I saw a huge g-group of them leaving yesterday, but something was off about them. One of the officers led a group of guildmates wearing those strange cloaks like that guy's and left in a hurry."

 

"So what can you tell us about the attack? I'm sorry, friend, you must be tired, but please, we need this information as soon as possible," she replied.

 

"It's o-okay," the young man said before having a bad coughing fit. "It's all of this smoke in my lungs, really. I'm sure I'll be fine as soon as my wounds heal. Anyway, a few hours ago the same group that left came back in the guild hall and began sneaking up on people, killing them in their sleep or while they were distracted. It wasn't much of a battle, they just systematically killed of my guild mates room by room."

 

"So how did you survive?" Amaranth asked. "Did you fight off your attackers?"

 

"Not really, no." His laugh was interrupted by a pained grimace. "I was in the reading room alone when I heard the commotion. By the time I came out, most of everyone was dead and the burning part of the room here collapsed and knocked the bookcase on me. I was pretty lucky, actually."

 

Rielle gave a gentle laugh. "That  _ is _ pretty lucky. Hey, kid, don't worry. We're going to get you out of here."

 

The three of them extinguished the remaining flames of Blood Oath's guild hall and then led the young member out safely, up into the Beached Whale tavern. Rielle gave a quick report to the bartender in the back room about their findings, and then the DRGN left it in his hands for the time being.

 

As they regrouped outside the ship-tavern, Blaze spoke up to the group. "So that was a bust, I'd say."

 

"A flaming bust, really," Amaranth added.

 

"Eyyy! Nice one, haha."

 

"I try," Amaranth replied. "So, Rielle, did you get a lead from the fairly useless kid we saved?"

 

"I did, actually. He gave me a list of people that may have escaped that he thinks didn't join up with the murdering members of the guild, so I think we'll start there."

 

Blaze shook his head. "Any of them in particular? I mean, before too long we're gonna be scouring the countryside for these people and old Dragonface is going to be all up in our faces like  _ roar _ and-"

 

"What I think Blaze is trying to say is-" Amaranth started.

 

"That we need an actual goal, I know," Rielle said, sighing. "Don't worry, one name he did give actually had value to me. It just so happens to be the name of my longtime friend that I used to run around in Guild Wars 1 with. He's also a necromancer..."

 

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Hey, you know our history with necromancers. Fine, what's this guy's name and where do we find him?"

 

Rielle hesitated. "His name is Grenic Thele."

 

Blaze raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And where will we find this friend of yours?"

 

"Well, that's the problem. I have an idea of where he might be, but..."

 

"But you don't really know where he is?" Amaranth replied.

 

"Hey, I'll explain later. For now let's waypoint to our guild headquarters. You said our charter ship just docked there this morning, right?"

 

The three of them teleported back to their guild castle. Amaranth had been using his contacts among the other guilds, along with Blaze's funds in the Global Trading Market, to build a personal ship that the DRGN could use to travel to places not originally in Guild Wars 2.

 

Upon arrival to their newly built private docks, the three of them noticed another figure wearing a mysterious black cloak lurking near the edge of the pier. "Damn it all, did they follow us back here?" Blaze said quietly as he drew one of us flaming axes.

 

Rielle's arm glowed dimly and a weapon appeared in her hand, this time a short sword with a curved blade, and she gripped it tightly. "I'm not sure, but I'm not about to be attacked at my own bloody home," she said in a rough voice.

 

They carefully approached the docks and the cloaked figure turned towards them. She lowered her hood revealing a woman with long white hair pulled back in a long braid. She looked at them and crossed her arms. "You..." she said in a firm and direct voice. "You're the ones I seek."

 

Amaranth stood in front of his group. "And you're the one who helped us before the attack on Hoelbrak, aren't you?"

 

"How perceptive of you, Sir Amaranth of the Eternal Dragonborn," she replied.

 

"And what brings you here to our guild hall, miss...?" Rielle asked.

 

"My name is Tess Bladesong, and I've come seeking aid in defeating the one you call Zhaitan. I'm aware of the dragon's return and I have vowed to slay him... personally."

 


	18. Seasick

Chapter 18 - Seasick

 

"Gross," Blaze said as he tried to steady Amaranth. The poor sylvari had been leaning over the edge of the ship for a couple of hours now. 

 

"I... I'm not really surprised that this sort of thing has got me throwing up most of my insides," Amaranth told him before leaning over the railings again.

 

Blaze pulled him back up on his feet. "Ya did so well the last time you were on a boat."

 

"Yeah, well, the overwhelming sense of something ominous about to happen on that island may have had something to do with that. Plus, it was like an hour long ride. We've been on this charter ship for about fourteen hours now."

 

Tess leaned back against the mast as she watched the two of them. The salty breeze blew against her ivory skin.  _ There's still so much more I need to tell them and yet they let me come with them so easily _ , she thought to herself.  _ It would seem that they trusted me, but I can still tell that they're all on edge. Why wouldn't they be, though? Rielle and the others have perfectly good reason to keep an eye on me, coming out of nowhere and knowing as much as I do. It's pretty ironic, really, that I would be traveling with them after what happened in Hoelbrak. _

 

-

 

The night before they set out on their journey past the Crystal Desert, they stood on the docks of their guild hall and the mysterious woman stood before them. She lowered her hood and presented herself unarmed.

 

"You wish to join us to fight the Elder Dragons?" Rielle asked hesitantly.

 

"Precisely," Tess responded. "I have reason to believe that once I was used by one of them, but to the extent we've been noticing recently."

 

Blaze gripped his axe more tightly. "What do ya mean, noticing recently? What would you know of the dragons' forces?"

 

Tess removed her dark cloak to reveal a suit of light platemail. On her right arm she wore a piece of cloth that bore the crest of the guild LGN. Tess grabbed the cloth and ripped it from her armour. "This is what I know. I know that my guild was attacked by seemingly possessed players and my guild leader, among many others I called friends, were murdered."

 

"Oh..." Blaze said as he finally sheathed his axe. "Yeah, about that."

 

"Before Ruric died..." Tess began, clenching the fist that held the crest of her former guild. "H-he told me to come to you. That you were one of the dragon-slaying guilds from a few years ago, and that maybe you could help. Ruric said that he once knew the people that attacked us, and that there was no way they would turn on their allies like this."

 

Rielle stepped closer to Tess and reached her hand out. "And so you've vowed to avenge your fallen leader and guild mates?"

 

Tess firmly gripped Rielle's hand, with the crest of LGN within the handshake. She confidently looked Rielle in the eyes. "I have. I won’t stop until I put an end to these attacks."

-

Tess knocked on the door of Rielle's quarters. "Miss Rielle? Would it be possible to me to talk to you all again?"

 

Rielle gathered the others on the top deck of the front of their ship. "Alright Tess, you have the floor. What did you want to tell us?"

 

"Last night I told you what had brought me to you, seeking your assistance," Tess said, and hesitated. "I... There's more to it, however."

 

Amaranth looked at her and crossed his arms. "Before Hoelbrak, you mean? When apparently you led both Blaze and I to the city before it was attacked."

 

"Correct." Tess replied. "Before all of this... madness started, I actually worked on this 'game'. Well, not directly. I was on the server maintenance team."

 

Rielle leaned against the railing of the ship and looked at the sky. "So you helped make all of this a reality, then? Is there anything you can tell us about what's been happening beyond our current goal?"

 

Tess walked over and leaned against the railing across from Rielle. "Not really, I'm afraid. We actually just thought we were making an online game. The only thing that actually stood out to us was how secret the higher-ups wanted to keep everything. I imagined it was just press and all that. Look where that got me."

 

Amaranth didn't look convinced. "So why tell us this? And what about Hoelbrak?"

 

"Well, that's what I was getting to. When all of us ended up in this world, I didn't exactly have the same role as all of you."

 

Rielle glanced at the circuits on her arm and then back at Tess. "The same role as us...? You had admin abilities, didn't you?"

 

"Correct again, Miss Rielle. Although basically all it gave me was freedom to use the waypoint system to where ever I wanted and some buffed stats. What happened in Hoelbrak though - I thought it was just supposed to be a launch day event. Or at least that was what the records I could access said."

 

Blaze sighed heavily. "So with all yer fancy admin powers they had you lead a list of 'players' to this particular town, and you had no idea that it would be attacked by a bloody dragon?"

 

Before Tess could respond, Rielle leapt to her feet. "Stop,” she said quietly. “Notice the wind and how slowly the ship is going now."

 

Amaranth's hand slowly drew closer to one of his swords. "Look, there's nobody up at the helm steering the ship. That, and all of the men above deck are suddenly gone."

 

"I'm not a fan of this," Tess began as she walked closer to the center mast. Suddenly, the main hatch flew open and four men emerged from below deck. They looked horrendous, like they had been maimed, with open gashes across their faces. 

 

One of the undead shipmates jumped at Tess. She pointed her empty palm at his feet and chanted something under her breath. The shipmate's legs froze within an instant as ice spikes quickly enveloped them. Tess drew the sword from her belt and jabbed it into the man's chest cavity.

 

Tess looked over her shoulder and saw Blaze rushing up behind her. With one powerful swing, both of his axes cut through two of the undead men with enough force that they both went down without a fight. 

 

Tess looked over to the remaining shipmate as it came for her. Before she could counter attack, Amaranth appeared behind their last enemy and pushed a dagger into its back. He forced the struggling undead over and off of the side of their ship.

 

Rielle joined the group and gave them a nod. The four of them looked around the deck as they continued to hear the sounds of moaning and scratching on the sides of the ship. Hands shot up from the outer sides of the ship as risen undead began pulling themselves onboard the ship.

 

Tess and Rielle stood back to back. "The party never stops for you all, does it?" Tess said, less confidently than she was before.

 

A shortsword appeared in Rielle's hand as she let out a faint groan. "Ugh, I really didn't want to have to deal with this today."

 

Blaze rushed to one of the nearby cannons as one of the undead climbed in front of it from below. With a flaming fist he punched the fuse of the cannon, causing it to immediately fire. The cannonball blew completely through the corpse enemy, launching it clear off of the side of their ship. "Get yer hands off of me ship! Cannons at the ready!" he yelled, and launched a flame across all of the cannons on the top deck. "FIRE!"

 


	19. Ruins of Amnoon

Chapter 19 - Ruins of Amnoon

  
  


Blaze shouted as he fired a harpoon gun off of the back of the ship. “Ya damn undead need to quit following us!” After a few more shots from the gun, he felt satisfied and stumbled back over to the middle deck where Rielle and Tess were. Blaze took another swig from the bottle he carried. "Rielle, it's been a damn long, long damn time! We've been at sea for what seems like an-" He hiccuped. "An eternity!"

 

Before he realized what had happened, Tess took the bottle from him and sat on a bench built in to the deck. She squinted at the bottle, trying to read the text, then shrugged and drank from it herself. "It's only been three days, Blaze. Through I have to admit I'm getting a bit impatient myself."

 

"Do we even know where we're going? For all we know we could end up in Canther... Canny... Cantina... Cantha, that's the one!" Blaze said, grumbling as he walked over to retrieve his bottle of booze.

 

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm not the navigator," Rielle replied and sat down on the bench next to Tess.

 

"Laaand ho!" Amaranth shouted from atop the crow's nest.

 

"What'd you call me, ya prick!?" Blaze shouted back up at him. He looked to Tess, "Heh eh eh, ya get it? Cause he’s prickly, c-cause he's a-"

 

"A tree. I get that he's a tree, Blaze." Tess rolled her eyes at him. "That one was a stretch even for you, Blaze," she said and took the bottle back from him for another drink.

 

A few moments passed before their ship finally reached the shore. Their few remaining  _ living  _ crew members, that Amaranth found hiding below deck in a corner, tied the ship to a dock at the base of an abandoned fortress at the edge of a desert. 

 

-

 

“Were the coordinates correct, Amar?” Rielle asked as he walked down the gangplank. 

 

“Should be…” he said. Amaranth motioned with his hand in front of him and a map appeared. “If you’re sure you wanted to get as far inland as we could, then we’re in the right place.” He raised a brow. “You  _ are  _ sure this is where we should be, right? You’re doing a lot of this whole ‘leading us somewhere but not telling us what we’re doing’ thing.”

 

“About that…” Rielle began. They reached the exit of the fortress and she looked out at the desert before them, the sand gently blowing by. “I know that he’s in Elona somewhere, but I’m not-”

 

“Not exactly sure where,” Tess said. “So why Elona, and especially way out in the middle of nowhere? Have you been able to contact him at all?”

 

Rielle brought up a ‘friends list’ in front of her. “Grenic’s not responding. It’s like he’s blocked himself from contact and there’s no trace of him at all.”

 

Tess crossed her arms. “You still haven’t explained why we traveled to another continent.” She looked back up at the ruins of the fortress. “We’re at Amnoon Arena, aren’t we? It was a ‘Player vs Player’ area in Guild Wars 1. Tell me you didn’t bring us all the way out here to do us in because it was be symbolic or something,” she said, rolling her eyes.

 

Rielle looked down at her feet. “No, I think I’ve had enough of that lately,” she said.

 

Amaranth crossed his arms as well. “For someone who came to us and needed  _ our  _ help, you sure are giving us a lot shit in the meantime.”

 

Tess’s eyes grew wide as she began to lower her guard. “You’re right,” she said. “I shouldn’t be giving you this much trouble. I came to you of my own volition, explained myself, and you trusted me. I owe you more than I realize.” She turned away from them, the sun glaring in her face as she squinted her eyes. “Maybe it’s this heat?”

 

Rielle cleared her throat. “We got the tip about ‘somewhere in Elona’ from Blaze. I had him  _ persuade _ a member of the Order of Whispers that happened to owe Blaze a bit of coin in a drinking game.” She laughed. “Turns out not even an assassin can drink Blaze under the table.”

 

Tess blinked skeptically. “A member of the Order of…” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “No, I shouldn’t be surprised anymore. You people are on a completely different playing field with this sort of thing, apparently.”

 

“According to the assassin, Rielle’s friend snuck through the Desert Gate in Ebonhawke that’s been on lockdown for years,” Amaranth said, bringing up his map again. “That’s north of here, right? We should probably head that way towards the Tomb of Primeval Kings. Necromancers like tombs, right?”

 

Tess stared at the map. “That’s really close to the heart of the Brand,  _ and _ Kralkatorrik. Would that even be a safe hiding place?”

 

“Probably not,” Rielle replied. “Although I doubt safety is his biggest concern right now if he’s on the run.”

 

“South then?” Tess asked. “The Temple of Ascension would probably be safe.”

 

“That place was a popular mission location in the game, so he’d probably stay away from there out of spite,” Rielle said.

 

Amaranth laughed. “Great, another loner.”

 

“At least this one isn’t nearly as broody,” Rielle said, laughing with him. “I have a thought, and if I’m wrong I’ll ship myself to Zhaitan in a cardboard box.”

 

“And the label will say,  _ Warning: Contents inside are more blue than they appear, _ ” Amaranth said, smirking.

 

Rielle smacked his arm. “Anyway, I think we need to go even farther south. It’ll take another day or two, but I think we need to make our way to the Desolation.”

 

“I mean when they label a part of a desert ‘The Desolation’, that’s  _ exactly _ where I want to go,” Tess replied, laughing. She picked up her pack from the ground and gestured southward. “Well, we’d better get moving if we want to make any progress before sunset. It’s going to be a long, long walk there.”

 

Amaranth and Rielle looked at each other and started laughing. “Yeah, about that…” Rielle said. “Blaze should be about on his way then, right Amar?”

 

Amaranth gave her a nod, and almost on cue they began to hear a rumbling noise coming from the other side of the fortress. The three of them looked around, and eventually what looked like a dune buggy, with a huge trail of dust following it, came speeding around the outer walls towards them.

 

The dune buggy screeched to a halt in front of them, with Blaze in the driver’s seat. “Ey ladies! Ya come here often?” he said, grinning.

 

Rielle climbed over the buggy’s roll cage and into the passenger seat. “Only for you, Blaze.”

 

Blaze waved Amaranth into the vehicle as well. “Alright fine, Pricklepants. There’s room for you too, so don’t get yer leaves in a bunch… Or whatever it is you salads wear... down... Gah! Ya get what I mean, now get in!”

 

Amaranth got in and patted Blaze on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Hothead. I still love you.”

 

“Ya better!” Blaze replied. “I didn’t get this damn thing working after the legion of the undead flooded our cargo hold and waterlogged the piston electron capacitors for nothing.”

 

“The...what?” Tess asked, squinting at him, baffled.

 

“The bullshit science, that’s what!” Blaze replied, laughing. “Ya know it’s Charr and Asura make so I uh, poked at it until the cube-shaped thing starting going and there was steam and fancy lights and-”

 

Rielle brought up her map and shoved it into Blaze’s face. “We’re heading this way. Think we’ll make it?”

 

“Scary Death Land in the desert. Got it, boss!” Blaze said, grinning again. “Ye, we’ll be fine.”

 

Amaranth leaned over the back of his seat, searching through the supplies. “I’m assuming you brought something to drink on this trip? I’m wilting back here.”

 

“Of course!” Blaze said. “There’s bourbon, whiskey, and rum-” He looked back at Tess, putting his palm by his mouth pretending to whisper. “That’s Rielle’s favorite.” She raised her brow in confusion. Blaze turned back around and continued, “And a case of beer, and-”

 

“The water, you dolt!” Amaranth said, scolding him.

 

“Uhh, I think that’s in there? I don’t remember,” Blaze said.

 

“By the gods, why did you pack so much alcohol?” Tess asked.

 

Blaze shrugged. “Why not?” he said, chuckling. “I mean I just figured we’d need it after some fight we’re probably going to have out here. If games ever taught me anything, it’s that deserts are bad. Like, ‘giant scorpion’ bad or ‘something else sand-related’ bad.”

 

Rielle punched his arm and he yelled out an “ouch!”. “I swear, Blaze, if the desert opens up and swallows us whole I’m going to haunt the shit out of you.”


	20. Dunes of Despair

Chapter 20 - Dunes of Despair

 

“Sand, sand, and more bloody sand!” Blaze complained. The four of them continued onward through the desert in search of Rielle’s comrade. She hoped he was here, and that maybe he could explain what was happening with his former guild Blood Oath.

 

Amaranth pulled up a map in front of them. “It looks like before nightfall we’ll end up on the edge of the Desolation. The Dunes of Despair, it seems.”

 

“Damn, if that wasn’t a video game sounding name I don’t know what is,” Rielle said sarcastically. She glanced back at Tess and Amaranth. “We should probably stop for camp soon, no?”

 

Blaze put his forehead on the steering wheel. “Yeah, don’t ask the driver’s opinion at all. No big deal.”

 

Amaranth reached forward and put his hand on Blaze’s shoulder. “Blaze, if we were worried about your ability to drive us through the night, we would have asked to stop sooner. Now it’s your attention span that we’re worried about.” He laughed.

 

Blaze shrugged. “Fine, fine. Then sun’s a-setting soon anyway.” He pointed towards a rocky ridge sticking up from the dunes. “Over there maybe? We could-”

 

Rielle put her hand over Blaze’s mouth and he brought the dune buggy to a halt. She lowered her hand. “I feel it too,” Blaze replied. A series of faint vibrations could be felt beneath them through the frame of the dune buggy. 

 

She looked at Blaze. “I told you not to curse us, Blaze. And what did you do?”

 

Blaze shrugged again. “Hey, I mean I was just stating the obvious!”

 

The vibrations grew more violent. Blaze gave Rielle a wide-eyed look and slammed his foot on the pedal and the buggy took off. They drove forward in a panic, but eventually the vibrations stopped.

 

“False alarm?” Tess asked. “Maybe we lost i-”

 

She was interrupted by an enormous burst of sand that erupted behind them. A hulking sand wurm shot forth from the dunes about 100 meters behind them. It immediately dove back into the sand towards them.

 

“Go!” they all yelled at Blaze. “Going!” he replied.

 

Blaze floored it and the buggy pushed forward through the loose terrain. The earth beneath them shook more violently than before as they pressed onward. Tess looked back and saw the sand wurm’s gruesome head carving through the surface of the sand. “Can’t this thing go any faster?” she yelled at Blaze. “If we don’t move our asses we’re going to end up dinner!”

 

He looked back at her with a huge grin on his face. “Don’t worry, lass. I’m just trying to keep this interesting!”

 

“INTERESTING?” Tess shouted back at him.

 

Blaze continued his bellowing laughter. “Yeah! You don’t know a  _ damn _ thing about racing!” He reached underneath the steering wheel and ripped a lever out and jammed it into place. The dune buggy’s engines began to glow and roar with flames that poured out of the exhaust. Blaze slammed the pedal and they launched forward at immense speed.

 

They created more distance between them and the sand wurm, but it closing in on them. Rielle motioned to the left, in front of Blaze. “Start strafing around that thing and get me a clear shot.” Blaze nodded.

 

She braced herself on the roll cage of the buggy and began to stand in her seat. Amaranth grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. “No more holding back,” he said. Rielle nodded in acknowledgement.

 

Tess looked at Rielle and then back at Blaze. “You mean we’re fighting that thing?” she yelled.

 

“Hell yeah! Yer damn right we are!” Blaze yelled back and jerked the buggy around. “For the DRGN!”

 

Rielle stood upright on her seat and leaned against the middle bar of the rollcage.  _ No holding back? You’re right, Amar.  _ She reached her arm out and the circuits carved into her flesh of both her arm and chest glowed bright. Azureflame, the bow Rielle used on Claw Island, quickly materialized in her hand. She drew the bowstring back, with a glowing arrow nocked and ready.

 

Blaze cut through the sand dunes with the buggy as they circled around the sand wurm that was following behind. The wurm shot up through the earth and launched itself at the buggy. Rielle launched the arrow forth at the wurm. The shot pierced the wurm’s maw with an explosive force that shattered one of its teeth. With a howling cry of pain, the wurm sunk back into the sands.

 

“Did ya kill it?” Blaze asked as he brought the buggy to a halt.

 

The earth began to shake again and Tess reached forward to put the buggy back into drive. “Bad idea!” she shouted.

 

They were too late, as the sand wurm surged up through the sand underneath of the buggy, flipping the vehicle completely into the air. Rielle, still standing at the time, was launched furthest out of the buggy and almost into the gaping maw of the wurm. Amaranth grabbed her arm and threw her aside and into the sand. His body crashed into the outer spikes of the wurm’s body. As the wurm dove back into the earth Amaranth was hurled away and into one of the dunes.

 

“Party chat enabled. Everyone alright?” Tess asked as they slowly rose after the attack.

 

Rielle scanned the area for Amaranth. She quickly spotted his body on the other side of the pit the wurm left in the sand. “Amar!” Rielle yelled, jumping over the crater and to his side. She kneeled beside him and helped him roll over onto his back.

 

“About 45% health, but I’m ok… I think,” Amaranth said, coughing. Rielle helped him to his feet and they drew their weapons.

 

The ground shook briefly and the sand wurm arose through the side once again. “Dammit, Blaze!” Rielle yelled. “You  _ did _ curse us!”

 

Blaze pointed at Tess’s shield and motioned towards the wurm. She nodded. He ran towards the beast unarmed and she began to follow. 

 

“Rielle, ranged support on the maw!” Tess shouted. Rielle responded by firing a couple of quick shots from Azureflame at the wurm, getting its attention.

 

As the wurm began to dive into the sand at Rielle and Amaranth, Blaze leapt in front of it. He slammed his body down into the ground, creating a huge wave of sand in front of him. Blaze engulfed himself in flames and slammed his fists into the sand, causing an explosion of immense heat. The sand fused to glass before him.

 

In a flash, Tess launched herself forth beside Blaze. She smashed her entire body, shield first charged with electricity, into the wall of glass. The blast of magic and strength shattered the glass, launching the shards that pulsed with Tess’s spell at the sand wurm. The shrapnel carved and sliced the wurm’s flesh.

 

“Time for a little revenge?” Rielle asked Amaranth. He smirked and drew both of his swords. He rushed towards the sand wurm. Crying in pain, it whipped its body at Amaranth trying to catch him in its maw.

 

As soon as the attack would have struck him, Amaranth vanished from before the enemy. The cloud of purple mist began to dissipate as the wurm swung its head back and forth trying to find him.

 

Multiple portals started to appear in different directions, surrounding the wurm from all directions. In an instant, copies of Amaranth shot from each of the portals, each figure striking the wurm and cutting through its flesh and bone with each attack.

 

One last portal appeared directly above the wurm. “Rielle, now!” they heard Amaranth shout from inside the portals. She rushed forward and leaped into the air. Above the wurm Rielle fired a barrage of arrows at its head. It remained stunned and heavily damaged, but alive. 

 

With one final pulse from the portal above the wurm, Amaranth appeared with a greatsword in his hands. The blade, possibly also an illusion, was bright silver with gears and sharp edges protruding from the hilt. Amaranth struck  and sliced through its entire maw.

  
  


With the beast defeated, they slowly gathered near the vehicle. Rielle wiped some of the wurm’s blood off of Amaranth’s coat. “You’ve got goop on you,” she said and Amaranth simply sighed. They shared a faint laugh, relieved that the battle was over.

 

_ So this is why Ruric spoke so highly of these people,  _ Tess thought to herself.  _ I’m starting to believe we might actually have a chance at this. _

 

Rielle put her hand on Tess’s upper arm. “You okay? You seem a little out of it after all that.”

 

Tess snapped back from her thoughts. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, accidentally staring at Rielle. “I, um… I’m just a little surprised, is all. I’ve seen entire raid parties fail to do what you just did.”

 

“What  _ we  _ just did,” Rielle replied. “You’re not alone, Tess. Not anymore.”

 

Tess looked at her and smiled slightly.  _ Yeah, I guess not. _

 

“OH NO!” Blaze shouted, interrupting them.

 

Amaranth raced over to Blaze, who was kneeled down beside the buggy. “What, is our vehicle broken?”

 

“No!” Blaze shouted again. “The booze! Most of the bottles of booze have shattered. The delicious elixir, sunken into the earth below!”

 

Amaranth stood up and the three of them stared at Blaze.

 

“Amaranth, oh pray tell me, what we’ll do?” Blaze moped, putting his head into his palms.

 

Amaranth raised a brow. “Wow Blaze, you actually called me by name,” he said. 

 

Blaze flipped the buggy back over with ease, groaning at the vehicle and at them. “Well this  _ is  _ a serious matter, Cabbagepants! What are we going to do!?”

 

Amaranth patted Blaze on the back. “Come on, hothead. We’ll find some along the way.”

 

“Yippie!” Blaze said, jumping back into the driver’s seat of the buggy.

 

Rielle tugged at Tess’s arm. “Come on, let’s keep moving forward,” she said with a smile.

 

Tess followed her back into the vehicle.  _ These three share a unique bond.  _ She thought.  _ Rielle seems to rarely smile like that. _

 

Blaze started the vehicle up again and they began to drive through the sands towards a place they could set up camp. “Hey wait!” he began, “Where are we going to find a place to get booze? There’s only sand, sand, and more bloody sand!”


	21. Come Whence I Call

The crew wrapped up their sleeping bags and packed up their tent and supplies into the buggy. “For it being a desert you would think it wouldn’t get this cold at night,” Tess said.

 

Blaze took her sleeping bag as she handed it to him. “Well since the ladies’ tent is just Rielle and yourself, ya could cuddle up on her for warmth,” he said with a chuckle. Tess’s eyes grew wide as she blushed.

 

“Well you see, Blaze, that wouldn’t work,” Amaranth said as he put his own sleeping bag into the back of the buggy. “Rielle’s heart is so cold that Tess’s body heat would have compensate for the both of them.”

 

Rielle’s brow twitched. “You do realize I could take this buggy in the middle of the night the next time we camp and leave you all out here in the sands alone, right?”

 

“How?” Amaranth asked. “Blaze is the only one with the keys and he keeps those in his bag.”

 

“Well Branches, she could just fist the ignition with her magical blue dragon hand and make the car go. It’s as simple as that,” Blaze replied, laughing.

 

“Hey, don’t I get a say in this?” Tess said. “Can we get back to the part where I’m sleeping in the same tent as Rielle? What are you implying, Blaze?”

 

The group stared at Tess before they all burst out in a fit of laughter.

 

“Hey, I was going to give up and not say anything else,” Blaze said.

 

Rielle smacked the back of Blaze’s head. “No, you were right to give up. Please do so again.”

 

“You can get back to the part where you’re _sleeping_ in a tent with Rielle whenever ya want. I ain’t stoppin’ ya,” Blaze said with a huge grin. Tess blushed as red as Blaze’s flames.

  


They jumped in the dune buggy and Blaze lit the ignition. After a few moments of driving completely aimlessly thanks to Blaze, Rielle turned the wheel out from under him and pointed them in the right direction.

 

“I thought we were headed to the Bone Palace?” Amaranth asked.

 

“Yeah,” Tess added. “If there was one place a necromancer out in the middle of nowhere would hide, it surely would be the Bone Palace. Why are you turning us the other way?”

 

Rielle squinted at the map in front of her and pointed to a map marker to an unlisted location. “Here,” she said. “Something is drawing me here. I’m not sure what, but…”

 

“Ah, it’s fine, lass,” Blaze said. “We’ve trusted your random judgements before and they haven’t led us astray, aside from that one time when the chick wanted to claim my booty and-”

 

“Blaze, no!” Rielle shouted as she smacked his arm. Blaze simply laughed at her.

 

-

 

Rielle crept out of the tent, trying to make as little noise as possible. Tess was sleeping next to her, more soundly than expected considering they were in the middle of a desert. It was the night after their battle with the sand wurm, and as soon as dawn came they needed to continue pressing forward.

 

“Can’t sleep, eh?” Blaze handed her his flask.

 

She took a quick look in the container and then drank without much more thought. “Nah, I think it’s too hot.”

 

Blaze raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk on his face. “The desert, or the girl in your tent.”

 

Rielle looked at him blankly and acted as if she was going to pour out the flask.

 

He shook his hands in front of her. “Hey hey hey, now let’s not be hasty!”

 

“Thought so…” Rielle said and took another swig from the container before handing it back to him.

 

Blaze took another drink himself. “This is a brew I picked up while you were gone. Dwarven-made and barreled… The good shit. Should put ya right back to sleep there.”

 

“Good shit or not…” Rielle began stirring the campfire with a poker that was nearby. “I think I just have too much on my mind.” She motioned with the poker at the tent that Amaranth was sleeping in. “Go ahead. I’ll keep watch tonight.”

 

“You’re sure?” Blaze asked. She nodded back. “Alright, ya don’t have to tell me twice.” Blaze said as he stood up and stretched. “See ya in the morn’, lass.”

 

“Mm.” Rielle poked in the campfire again. Blaze wandered over to and then inside of the tent. She heard an audible _THUD_ followed by what sounded like Amaranth grumbling in his sleep.

 

Rielle stared into the campfire, trying to clear her thoughts. _We really need to find Grenic soon. Amaranth received word from one of his contacts that the ex-members of Blood Oath staged another attack, this time on another guild’s home. I mean, it's not like we could have predicted the attack, but we really need to be back in Kryta. Right. Find Grenic, and take Tess and him to… attack Zhaitan I guess? Wonderful plan, Rielle. This fight is getting overwhelming, even with mana waking inside us in this new world. And now we’re getting two new people involved? Tess volunteered, even seeking us out on her own… Tess… And what’s with the guys teasing us about each other so much? What are they going on about? It's not like I- Wait, do I have feelings for her? Is that ridiculous? But-_

 

She heard a tapping, like something was knocking on the vehicle parked behind her. Rielle quickly jumped up to look, and instinctively materialized a short sword in her hand.

 

She saw nothing.

 

Her shoulders relaxed as she exhaled. _And now I’m hearing things. Lovely._

 

Rielle turned back around towards the campfire and it suddenly died out without cause. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she felt a chill pass by. _There’s a presence here, I know it. I’m not crazy._ She tightened her grip on the sword still in hand.

 

Her eyes still adjusting to the sudden darkness, Rielle started to be able to make out a figure of a woman a few meters in front of her. As the apparition became clearer Rielle could still see through her. “What… Who are you?”

 

The spirit held out her palm towards Rielle, and another chill ran up her spine. Suddenly Rielle’s game-map flashed up between her and the spirit. The spirit moved closer to Rielle, her feet remaining motionless as they hovered above the sand. She looked at Rielle and pointed to an unmarked location on the map, and the floating display flickered and distorted like static on an old TV. The display reset itself, now displaying a marker where the spirit had touched.

 

“The Temple… of Desmina?” Rielle read aloud. She looked towards the apparition. The spirit looked back with her blank gaze and tilted her head. Rielle’s map disappeared, and with that, the spirit vanished.

 

Shocked, Rielle looked all around her but saw no trace of the spirit. The campfire at her feet began burning again.

 

“What the…?” Rielle waved her hand and brought up her map again. The marker the spirit created remained. She dismissed the map and sat back in front of the fire. Rielle pinched the bridge of her nose and stuck the short sword into the sand. _Wonderful plan, Rielle._

 

-

 

They left early the next morning. Within the hour a mountain range came into their view. Soon they came to the edge of the area known as the Desolation and found a small cave entrance along the base of the cliffside.

 

Blaze parked the buggy next to the entrance. Sand blew in their faces as the wind brushed against the mountains.

 

“So this is where your friend is?” Tess asked.

 

“He sure has the taste for architecture,” Amaranth said, peering into the darkness.

 

They slowly made their way into the cave. The tunnels of loose rock and dirt quickly became carved marble and decorative stone. Illegible runes covered the halls and distorted artwork and paintings decorated their path.

 

“These markings are… related to Grenth, the God of Death, aren’t they?” Tess asked as she brushed her fingers along one wall.

 

“Yeah, Nox would have…” Rielle said before she stopped herself. “It doesn’t matter. I think it's a sign that we’re in the right place though.”

 

Blaze rested his palm on her shoulder. “I told ya it's okay, Rielle. It's not your fault.”

 

“What’s not her fault?” Tess asked, raising her brow.

 

“Friends come and go,” Amaranth replied. “And sometimes it's better not to dig too deep.”

 

Tess gave Rielle a concerned look. “I-I’m sorry, Rielle,” she said. “I never meant to-”

 

“It's okay, Tess. It was nobody’s fault, especially not yours,” Rielle said. _I won’t let any more of my friends get hurt, not again._

 

Blaze nonchalantly placed his hand on a rune on the wall. The center glyph of the runes began to glow red at his touch and the segment of wall withdrew into itself. “Uhhh…” Blaze began. “Did I break it, or...?”

 

Amaranth hurried over to the glyph. “If he sealed himself inside the temple, why would it have reacted to Blaze?”

 

Blaze put his arm around Amaranth and directed him towards the passageway. “Ah, no worries, I bet the temple just didn’t want me breaking down any of its walls is all.” Blaze looked at Rielle with that typical grin of his. “Right, captain?”

 

She was leaning on one of the pillars in the room, her hand covering her mouth as she looked at the floor. _A temple of Grenth, dedicated to one of his followers, and It reacts to Blaze’s touch. Why…?_

 

“Rielle…”

 

_The spirit from last night led us here to the place Grenic has fortified himself, and we’re able to basically just walk right in. Something’s not right-_

 

“Rielle!” Amaranth exclaimed. Startled, she shook her head slightly and looked at Amaranth. “Are you with us, or do you want to rest?”

 

She shook her head again and walked down the corridor. “Sorry, I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”

 

The remaining three looked at each other and shrugged before following Rielle into the next hall.

 

The passage eventually led them to a large room held up by massive stone columns. Carved into the columns were reliefs of various priests and warriors, all wearing garb that signified their devotion for the God of Death. At the end of the room was a tall entranceway sealed by black glyphs with another relief of Grenth itself carved into the stone. In front of that was a lone statue of a hooded woman, her arms reaching out, human skulls laid at her feet.

 

Blaze stared up at the woman’s statue. “Your friend has one hell of a vacation home, huh, Rielle?”

 

When Rielle approached the statue, the apparition from before appeared.

 

“Woah! The hell?” Blaze took a step back as he drew an axe.

 

Rielle put her arm in front of him. “So, spirit… Why have you led us here?”

 

Blaze gave Rielle a confused look and sheathed his weapon. The remaining two approached the statue as the spirit began to speak.

 

The apparition’s mouth didn’t move, but they heard her voice resonate through the room itself. “You find yourself in my temple, for I am Desmina, the first follower of Grenth, the God of darkness, ice, and death itself. This place has been long forgotten by men, although another of the living has found refuge here as of late. This mortal’s power, however, resonates with life and death, but yours does not. Why is it you disturb these halls of silence?”

 

Rielle took another step forward towards the spirit. “We come seeking both a friend and the means to an end.”

 

The spirit pointed towards the path that led back outside the temple. “If this person is who you seek, than you need look no further than the land of Orr.”

 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Amaranth said. “Why tell us that Grenic is here and then tell us to go to Orr instead? Is it because he’s a necromancer and Orr is overrun by Zhaitan’s undead?”

 

“Or worse, he’s been corrupted by Zhaitan himself,” Tess replied.

 

Rielle clenched her fist. _They’re right, I know he’s here._ “I refuse to believe that Grenic has been corrupted. Now let us pass, spirit!”

 

The apparition bowed her head before them and vanished. They heard a _crack_ and the barrier behind her faded as well. Hesitating at first, Rielle then led them through the entranceway and into the last chamber.

 

The chamber was even more massive than the last, large braziers with roaring green flames lining the walls. At the end of the chamber was a hulking statue of the God of Death. It had a human-looking body donning long black robes, but wore the skull of a great beast. Other smaller statues stood at either side of him, depicting skeletons and deathly horrors crawling towards the God for acceptance.

 

Kneeling at the altar before the statue was a sylvari, with dark green skin that almost matched his black robes. His skin was not illuminated in the dark like other sylvari.

 

As they approached the man at the altar, they heard him chanting something as he looked up towards the statue of the God. “I am your god. Follow where I lead, come whence I call, and the rotted corpses of the dead will be yours to control. I swear my allegiance to you in life as in death, as did your first follower Desmina. I, at her very own temple, shall use this power henceforth to cast down the false gods.”

 

The sylvari stood and took a staff that laid across the altar. He jabbed the base of the staff on the stone at his feet and they heard a quiet rumble. Suddenly hands of dead men and beasts began crawling out of the ground around them. The decrepit corpses quickly surrounded them, and the group drew their weapons.

 

Rielle remained still, and called out her friend’s name. “Grenic…?”

 

The creatures’ stances shifted and they backed slowly away from the group. The sylvari turned to face them. “You…? It's been a long time my friend.” Grenic’s own stance didn’t budge as he held the staff with both hands in front of him. “Why have you left Kryta and apparently followed me here?”

 

Blaze sheathed both of his axes and crossed his arms. “We’re here because ya guild’s been attacking people. Killing innocents, burning down towns, that sorta thing.”

 

“They’re not _my_ guild, I don’t command them,” Grenic said in defence. “I simply followed along when we all awoke. When they started turning… Why do you think I left?”

 

“So you _are_ immune to the corruption, then?” Rielle asked.

 

“It seems so,” Grenic said, finally lowering his staff. The horrors that rose from the ground became lifeless and fell as quickly as they appeared. “When this was just a game my character had an affinity for the God of Death, so when I woke in this world I decided I would eventually come here. My necromancer abilities seemed… unique? So I seeked answers to both my power and the corruption once it began.”

 

Amaranth walked closer to him and the statue, his hand rubbing his chin. “So what have you learned in this dark place?”

 

Grenic gave him a hollow laugh. “Place of darkness? No, this is a place of power. If you cannot see that then we are two very different sylvari.”

 

“Right…” Amaranth responded uneasily, his hand on the hilt of his blade.

 

“At ease, my kin,” Grenic said. “If none of you have been corrupted and you’re friends of Rielle, than you’re friends of mine.”

 

Tess spoke up. “So you’ll help us then?”

 

“I don’t understand.” Grenic answered. “I don’t have a lot of knowledge to offer you that you probably don’t already know.”

 

“Aye, that’s not exactly why we came all the bloody way out here,” Blaze said, and Grenic raised a brow.

 

Rielle reached into her pouch, pulled out two pieces of cloth, and held them out to him. One was the red fabric bearing the crest of Tess’s former guild. “We came to ask you to fight with us,” she said. The other was a piece of black silk from the cloak Nox wore. _I have people I need to protect._

 

Rielle walked up to the altar and placed the two pieces of fabric. She drew a dagger from her belt that was hidden by her cloak, not one materialized by her own mana. Rielle drove the dagger through the cloth and into the altar itself. “We’re going to kill Zhaitan and free this world.”

 

Grenic remained quiet for a moment, before slowly letting out a long breath. “It's kind of a long way back to Kryta, considering there are no waypoints connected to the ley lines out here. I was kind of hoping to not have to go back for a while.” He started back towards the entrance. “Hm, I guess it can’t be helped then. I’ll gather my things and meet you outside, okay?”

 

“Mm, that’s it, then…” Rielle said quietly and started to follow him.

 

Amaranth put his hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you want to leave his dagger here?”

 

Rielle turned to look back at the altar and nodded. “It’s fine. Like I said, I’m sure he would have liked it here.”

 

They quickly began back through the corridors of the temple, and Tess caught up to walk by Rielle’s side. “Hey, are you okay?” she said softly.

 

Rielle turned to her, but didn’t look her in the eye. Barely audible, she responded. “I won't lose any...” Rielle said, but she walked away before Tess could catch all of it.

 

Blaze caught up to Tess, and motioned his head towards their leader who was out of earshot by now. “Just give her some time, okay? She trusts you, but I don’t think she’s going to open up to anyone right now.”

 

“Right… Thanks.”

 

She took a step forward, but Blaze grabbed her arm to stop her again. He gave Tess a serious look. “When the time comes… You’ll have to protect her. If you _do_ care for her, when we can’t you’ll have to be her shield.”

 

Tess look confused for a brief moment, but Amaranth caught up before she could ask what he meant.

 

“Something wrong? Stub your toe, Blaze?” he asked.

 

“Nah, I was just asking the lass here how much booze was still in the dune buggy,” he said with a grin. Blaze’s expression matched his usual mood so fast Tess felt like she had whiplash. “I figured she might’a drank it all last night before she passed out!” Amaranth rolled his eyes and just hurried Blaze along in front of Tess.

 

“Protect her… when you can’t?” Tess said to herself.

  


It was almost dusk by the time Grenic emerged from the cave entrance and met them by the dune buggy. They squeezed his pack into the trunk as Blaze and Amaranth got in the front of the buggy and Tess, Rielle, and Grenic squeezed into the back seat.

 

“You had to come get me in Tyria’s smallest vehicle, did you?” Grenic asked sarcastically.

 

“Nah, you’ll be fine back there,” Blaze said and laughed. He tossed his flask back into Rielle’s lap. “If we drive through the night, we’ll make it to the southern part of the Desolation by morning and to the sea within an hour, rather than heading all the way back north.”

 

Amaranth chimed in. “Figured this will be easier, and we’ve already got our crew sailing around the edge of shore blocked by these mountains. They’ll probably beat us to the meetup point too if there’s no trouble.”

 

Rielle closed the flask after taking a few drinks. “I swear if you all curse us again you’re fighting Zhaitan on your own.”

 

Blaze just laughed at her as he drove them off into the night.


	22. Death of a Lion

Chapter 22 - Death of a Lion

 

The sun had almost set, but Lion’s Arch was within sight. They’d been in Krytan seas most of the day, but it wasn’t worth stopping until they reached the city. Their ship was in need of repairs after the attacks at sea prior to arriving to the desert, and the port city was the perfect place to go before heading to Orr.

 

The five of them gathered to the top deck, eager to finally be back on familiar ground when they arrived. Grenic leaned against the main mass, lost in thought longer than he realized. When he spoke up it surprised the rest of the group. “So let’s assume the humans’ gods from the game existed…”

 

“You mean, before our own records began,” Amaranth asked.

 

“Exactly.” Grenic held out his hand and a projection of a dragon appeared. “The Elder Dragons too, before the gods came to this realm.”

 

Tess crossed her arms and looked out to sea. “So you’re positive there’s no way this is all just a game we’re in? Or hell, a collective fever-dream we’re all having?”

 

“Or nightmare, rather…” Amaranth said, his hand fidgeting with a pocket watch attached to his jacket.

 

Grenic looked directly at Amaranth. “There’s no way. I don’t think it’s possible. I believe something, some terrible event, wiped the history books long ago. The game’s lore says the old gods came to this world from the Mists and humans followed suit. What if they  _ made  _ humans forget them before they vanished?”

 

Amaranth snapped the pocket watch shut. “Or the Elder Dragons woke to fight the gods. Rielle, you were channeling mana from a dragon… and then you absorbed her power when she died. Do you think a dragon could defeat a god?”

 

Grenic was in shock. “Wait, you met an Elder Dragon? How…? W-Why?”

 

Rielle rolled up her right sleeve. “These… come from the dragon I met.”

 

“I mean, I assumed when I first got a good look at them that it was some kind of magical scarring, but-” Grenic hesitated to finish. “I- your long coat doesn’t have sleeves but you’ve been wearing an undershirt that did since we got into a colder climate.”

 

She shrugged. “It was cold.”

 

“Right... “ Grenic said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “A warrior with flames, and another with weapon enchanting. A duelist with illusion magic and… healing? And you Rielle, an archer that I’ve heard uses a sword. You  _ are  _ an interesting bunch.”

 

Blaze rose up from the bench he was laying on. “Ahh, ya disappointed that ya didn’t join up with us sooner?”

 

“Heh,” Grenic laughed. “And have to be the ones that take down Zhaitan in the game? I’ll pass.” Blaze waved his hand to dismiss him and laid back down, grumbling incoherently. 

 

“You can still back down from this. I’m not making anyone fight,” Rielle said, a hint of guilt in her voice.

 

“That was different back then. It was a game, and this is…” The grip on his staff tightened. “This is our  _ lives _ . Besides, I wouldn’t miss this fight for the world.” 

 

Amaranth was squinting towards Lion’s Arch. “You might not be missing out on anything.”

 

“Hey Blaze,” Tess said, looking through a spyglass. “Why would the city be on fire?”

 

Blaze rose, grumbling again. “Now why… ugh… How could I be responsible for every fire in Tyria?”

 

Rielle helped him up. “You typically are.”

 

“Hey!” Blaze said, walking towards the front of the ship. He pulled out his own spyglass. “I’ve only burned down one city block so far!”

 

“So far…” Rielle crossed her arms.

 

“Geez, ya start one fire and everybody’s all…” Blaze looked through the spyglass. “Guys, ya need to take a look at this,” he said, handing the spyglass to Rielle.

 

Rielle looked through and saw a horrific sight. The city of Lion’s Arch looked like a burning husk, and most, if not all, of the ships in the harbor were engulfed in the inferno. From what she could tell, people were running up and down the main streets of the city aimlessly killing each other. 

 

“Pull us ashore!” she yelled to the crew. “Dock us outside the city limits and we’ll head through the southern gate. Afterwards sail immediately to the guild hall. I don’t need them blowing any more holes in my ship!”

  
  


The sun was setting fast but the raging flames lit the city like a beacon. A storm was brewing that brought a wind so cold it chilled their bones. They quickly made their way into Fort Marriner, the Vigil’s base that took up most of the southern part of the city.

 

The only opposition they encountered in the fort was the threat of tripping over the corpses of both risen enemies and players themselves. 

 

Amaranth covered his mouth as they waded through the courtyard of bodies. “Am I really seeing this? Ugh, this smell is unreal.”

 

“Undead, rather,” Blaze replied. “The smell of burning bodies isn’t one I would recommend.”

 

Amaranth began to examine the bodies more closely, his hand still covering his face. “Shouldn’t you be used to that by now, Blaze?”

 

Tess remained still, gripping the sword on her belt tightly. “Nothing could prepare you for this. I’ve seen war in the old world before, and even some battles in this one that didn’t end well, but…”

 

“Don’t let your guard down,” Rielle interrupted her. “I hear someone coming from the other exit.”

 

The five of them, fully armed, expected the worse to come through the gate. Sounds of scraping and scratching at the wooden door, followed by a heavy panting. Slowly, the gate crept open.

 

_ Another risen? Or a possessed player?  _ Rielle thought.

 

It was a young girl, struggling to drag the body of an adult woman.

 

Tess covered her face with her hands, and her eyes widened. “Oh no,” she said under her breath.

 

“Tess…” Rielle reached for her but she ran off to the child.

 

Amaranth looked at Rielle skeptically. “ _ Please _ tell me the child isn’t undead.”

 

“I hope not,” Rielle replied. She bit the inside of her mouth.  _ For both their sakes. _

 

The child stopped struggling when she noticed Tess and fell to her knees. Her eyes were swollen, like she had cried to the point that there were no tears left, and bloody scratches and bruises covered most of her body. 

 

Tess knelt beside the child. She knew the woman the child was holding on to was long gone. Tess tried to look the child in the eye, but couldn’t and looked at the ground again.

 

“Are you…” the child began to ask. Her voice was weak and Tess leaned in closer. “Are you here to save us? To s-save mama and me?”

 

Tess took the girl’s hand, fighting to keep her own tears away. She took a deep breath and looked up at the child. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” she asked in a soft tone.

 

“Mabel,” the girl replied.

 

Tess waved at Amaranth for him to come over. “Okay Mabel, everything’s going to be fine.” She reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small bottle. “Here, it’s fine. This will make you feel better.”

 

The girl put her hand over the mouth of the bottle and shook her head.

 

“No, sweetheart. It’s good for you. It’s what we use when we’re hurt too.”

 

“I can’t.” The girl reached for the woman’s arm beside her and put it in her own lap. “Mama told me things like that won’t work on us.”

 

Tess looked at Amaranth who shrugged and shook his head.

 

Mabel pulled on the woman’s arm tighter and held it to her chest, the bones cracking faintly. “We’re not like you, mama said. People like us can’t be strong like the heroes, but that’s ok because the heroes will save us.”

 

Amaranth quickly stood and backed away from the child. “Tess, I think we should-”

 

“Mabel, we need to get you to safety.” Tess began to reach for the child’s arm.

 

“NO!” the girl screamed. Mabel began crying again and laid her head on the woman’s chest. “I won’t leave mama!”

 

“Mabel, please…”

 

The girl couldn’t hear Tess plead. She cried and moaned as she held onto the body of her mother. Tess, still kneeling by her side, stroking her hair. The cries eventually faded, as did the child’s breathing.

 

Amaranth held his hand out to Tess. “She’s gone… let’s move-”

 

Tess grabbed at his coat instead. “Amaranth, you have to! You can heal her!”

 

“Her heart’s stopped, and if the potion wasn’t going to work, I-”

 

“Amaranth, do it!” Tess yelled. She was shaking, staring at the ground. “You have to. I couldn’t, so…”

 

Tess was startled to feel Rielle’s arms wrapped around her. “I… couldn’t.” A tear fell down Tess’s cheek.

 

“It’s okay, Tess. There’s nothing we can do.” Rielle pressed herself against Tess’s back and held tighter. “We just have to keep moving, okay?”

 

She let go and helped Tess back to her feet. “R-right,” Tess replied.

 

Another round of cannon fire and gunshots was heard not too far away. “Alright ya three, we need to move!” Blaze shouted.

  
  


A long wooden bridge spanned between the northern and southern districts of the city. 

 

“We’ve got to get over there and help anyone who hasn’t turned!” Grenic shouted as he led them across the bridge.

 

Blaze ran ahead and stopped him. “Hold. Someone has eyes on us.”

 

“How can you tell? I don’t sense anyone immediately nearby.” Grenic tried to move passed him, but Blaze held his arm in front of them. 

 

The sound of a gunshot went off from the north, and a small chip was blown out of the bridge a few meters ahead.

 

“That’s how,” Blaze replied. “Hey Rielle, look. It’s your boy.”

 

On the balcony of what used to be an inn to the north stood a man in chainmail and a black and red cloak holding a rifle.

 

“Goden,” Rielle said with a heavy sigh.

 

Amaranth pointed his sword in front of them to make a barrier, but Rielle stepped ahead. “Are you sure?” he asked.

 

Without hesitation a pulse of mana shot down her arm and burst from her hand, forming into Azureflame. “If he’s turned or not, it doesn’t matter. He  _ shot  _ at us.” Rielle drew the bow back and took aim at Goden. 

 

Tess stepped closer to her. “What if it was a warning shot? He could still be on our side.”

 

“I won’t kill him… yet. His next move decides if this arrow cripples him or goes straight for his heart.”

 

“Rielle... “ Tess took a heavy breath and went into a shield stance. “I understand and I’m right beside you.”

 

Goden took another shot at them, and it pierced the wood near Rielle’s feet. Her aim didn’t falter. “You always were a terrible shot, weren’t you?” she said. Rielle fired the arrow at such a velocity Goden didn’t have time to lower his gun. The arrow struck straight down the barrel of the rifle, causing the bullet lodged in the barrel to explode. 

 

Goden threw the burning gun in a panic and leapt from the balcony into the street below. 

 

“Quick! Before we lose sight of him!” Amaranth shouted as they rushed across the bridge once more.

 

Suddenly, Rielle was falling. An explosion blew out the bridge from below her, but she couldn’t tell from where. A sharp pain shot up her leg from the blast. 

 

Rielle felt someone grab her arm in midair as she watched pieces of the bridge fall into the waters below.

 

“Gotcha!” Come on, Rielle. This is…” Tess was saying, struggling to keep hold of her. “A two-person effort here.”

 

Rielle looked up to find Tess holding on to her, with her other arm grabbed hold of Blaze’s which was sticking out of a portal above them.

 

She reached with both hands and held tightly to Tess. Rielle tried to catch her breath. “Not how I… how I first imagined holding your hand. Although Blaze’s… disembodied hand coming out a portal makes this a bit weird… but, I’ll take it.”

 

Tess started laughing at her. “Yeah I know, ri- Wait, what?”

 

“Blaze, pull us up already!” Rielle shouted.

  
  


After getting back over the safe side of the now destroyed bridge, they retreated inside one of the fort’s watchtowers. 

 

Rielle plopped herself into a chair and started rolling up her pant leg. “Damn, this doesn’t feel great.”

 

“Rielle, you’re bleeding all over the place!” Tess started frantically pulling bandages out of her pack. 

 

“Ugh, I know. These are great boots too,” Rielle said, trying to get her right boot off.

 

Tess rolled her eyes at her and purposefully pressed a little too hard on the wound. Rielle winced through her forced grin.

 

Amaranth came over from the window. “I should have enough mana to heal you by now. You know I can heal the wound but not the-”

 

“I can make new boots, don’t worry, Amar,” Rielle said, trying not to bite down on her tongue from the pain. “What the hell got me, by the way?”   
  


“That did,” Blaze said, tapping at the window. Outside was a huge airship flying overhead, its cannons firing aimlessly at anything in the city.  “Aaaaand…” The ground started to rumble and shake like the earth below them was about to open up. “...The airship just crashed into the northern district of the city.”

 

They sat silently in the abandoned watchtower for a moment. Tess was staring at the ground with Rielle’s bandaged leg still in her hands. “We couldn’t save a single-”

 

“That’s not true,” Rielle said as she moved out of the chair and sat up on the table. “It’s true that we lost today, but…”

 

Tess sat on the table beside her. “But we’ll find out who’s causing all of this chaos and pain and stop them.”

 

Grenic looked away from the window. “You’re right. This is more than just Zhatain and some undead. We need to find out what’s really going on.”

 

Tess grabbed her sword laying beside her on the table and held the handle out to Rielle. “Together?”

 

Rielle placed her hand on Tess’s. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

 

Blaze rushed over to Amaranth. “Ahh, so Bud, how’s uhh that progress on getting us out of here?” 

 

Amaranth cleared his throat and brought up a map in front of him. “So it looks like a lot of the ley line network is down but we should be able to make it back to HQ just fine.”

 

Blaze put his arm around him and laughed. “Good, ‘cause if we stay here any longer we might have to find a  _ separate _ watchtower to hide out in.”

 

Tess raised her brow at him. “Why? Would we need to set up scouting points and split up or-”

 

Rielle handed Tess back her sword. “Ignore him. He’s just being Blaze.”

 

“Whaaat? I’m just saying,” Blaze said as he tried to help her up.

 

Rielle just hit him and leaned on Tess to stand instead. “Amar, can you please get us out of here before I make the executive decision to leave Blaze behind?”

 

Amaranth held out a glowing crystal as the other four leaned in close. “Can do, captain.”

 

With a flash of light, the five of them saw the guild’s castle once again. 


	23. Snarky Glowing Moody Bitch

The dock at the guild’s hall was somber and quiet with their ship away for repairs. A light rain had just cleared and the scent of seawater was thick in the air. Blaze sat at the end of the docks, squinting into the bottom of his flask. Rielle snuck up behind him without a sound.

 

Rielle gracelessly sat a bottle of liquor beside Blaze with a loud  _ clunk. _

 

“Eah!” Blaze said as he jolted up. “...Why ya gotta’ sneak up on ol’ Blaze like that?”

 

“Hmph.” Rielle grinned. “I think if this actually ended up being a game you’d have a perception stat of 2.” She sat beside him with a blanket draped over her shoulders.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Ya tease ol’ Blaze like this but when the Big Dragony Boogeyman comes don’t be crying to me.” He crossed his arms and pretended to pout. 

 

“You seem awfully like yourself since we got back,” Rielle said as she stretched out her right leg. “It’s been only what, four days? And all the booze in the cellar is already gone. Tsk tsk.”

 

“We’re going to need a bigger cellar,” Blaze replied as he picked up the bottle beside him. “Aye, what’s this?”

 

“Well, old pal, I’ve been holding out on you,” Rielle said. Blaze handed her the bottle and she popped the cork off, pouring it out into two short glasses. “It’s a gift I’ve been meaning to share with you. I figured now was a better time than never.”

 

Blaze took a whiff of the bottle. “Mm, smells warm. Like ‘it burns the hairs in my nose’ warm.”

 

They both tapped their glasses together and drank in unison. “Ughh!” Rielle cleared her throat. “That goes down as sharp as a knife.”

 

“Yeah it does!” Blaze finished his glass quickly and laughed. “That’s some fine booze ya got there. I’m assuming I’ll be taking that bottle up with me when you’re done?”

 

“It’s good but… Damn.” Rielle cleared her throat again. “I’ll pour me another on principle but the rest is yours.”

 

“Good, good. No point in sharin’ a bottle if we’re not both in pain,” Blaze said and they laughed together. After a short moment Blaze finished his second drink. “Ey, so how’s the leg?”

 

Rielle was massaging her leg muscles. “Not bad, but still stiff. In a day or two I should be back up to par. I imagine Tess is going to kill me when I do some training in the morning though.”

 

“You’re damn right, I am,” Tess said, walking up behind them. “Or rather when you end up training too hard tomorrow,” she said and laughed.

 

“She’s got ya all figured out, lass,” Blaze said. Rielle smacked his shoulder.

 

“Amaranth’s got his most recent scout report and he’s saying things are looking weird,” Tess said, scratching her head. “I guess he’s going to head up towards Divinity’s Reach tomorrow.”

 

“The city, huh? Hey Rielle, I wonder how the Queen is doing?” Blaze said, this time with a grin on his face.

 

“I’d prefer not to break into anymore more palaces, thanks.” Rielle sighed. 

 

Blaze motioned next to Rielle. “C’mon lass, ya didn’t come down just to tell us about Treeface.” He refilled Rielle’s glass and handed it to Tess. “Have a drink!”

 

Tess took a drink and smiled. “Blaze, this is Antique Dwarven-barreled Dragon Whiskey! Its super rare but it’s my favorite. How in the world did you get it?”

 

Blaze patted Rielle’s shoulder. “This one here did, cause she’s the-” he hiccuped, “-the best!”

 

“Yeah, she is,” Tess mumbled into her glass, continuing to drink.

 

Blaze nudged Rielle’s arm and then nodded towards Tess. “Ah well, ol’ Blaze is headed back up.” He stood and picked up the bottle. Tess grew wide-eyed as he began to take it away.

 

“I think he’s got a date with the dragon whiskey,” Rielle remarked.

 

“Aww, fine.” Tess crossed her arms and swirled the drink around in her glass.

  
  


They sat quietly at the end of the dock for a few minutes, looking out to the sea. Tess eventually finished her glass and set it at her side and sighed.

 

“Going to sneak into his room and steal the bottle?” Rielle asked.

 

Tess smiled and looked down. “Unlikely. We both know it’s already gone anyway.”

 

They shared an awkward laugh. “Yeah,” Rielle replied. “So...”

 

“Man, now that the whiskey’s gone I’m realizing how cold it is tonight,” Tess said. 

 

“Well yeah, you’re wearing this little sleeveless top,” Rielle said. “Here, have some of the blanket. I can share.”

 

“Oh no, that’s not what I meant. It’s okay, really. I-”

 

“Too late,” Rielle said, wrapping it around her too. “You’ve been blanketed.”

 

They sat silently for another moment before Tess finally spoke up. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

 

“Sure, whatever you’d like,” Rielle said in a soft tone.

 

“Why did you do it?” Tess asked. “Start a guild and all this, I mean.”

 

Rielle smiled. “Heh, trying to unlock my tragic backstory?”

 

“No, no,” Tess said, shaking her head. “I just meant, um… I mean you were in a guild before and there was only three of you until recently so I…”

 

Rielle picked up Blaze’s glass that was left beside her, disappointed that it was empty when she looked inside. She sighed as she set it down again. “I was… Hm, how do I put this? The guild I ran with before in the first game, and then as I started out in the second game, were pretty closely knit. It’s where I met Grenic too. I ended up unable to play for a while though, and when I finally came back a lot had changed. Nothing felt right about it, and a lot of the original people were gone.”

 

Tess nodded. “Ah, so you ended up leaving and started this guild with some friends, I take it?”

 

“Exactly,” Rielle agreed. “We were already close, so when they started playing the game it just seemed natural. I guess you know how the story goes from there.”

 

“ _ The Best Three-man Guild _ , and the ones who defeated Zhaitan in the game, right?” Tess asked.

 

Rielle shrugged. “Something like that.” She started twirling a corner of the blanket around her finger. “It’s funny, because I kind of grew up alone until high school. Not that it was really a bad thing, it just made me who I am. Then in that game, and I guess now… I ended up being sort of a leader?”

 

“That makes sense. You seemed like you were that kind of person,” Tess said.

 

Rielle laughed. “I’m pretty much the same as before, except now I’m a snarky  _ glowing  _ moody bitch.”

 

Tess shook her head again. “No, a leader, I mean. I think that you’re a very strong person. You’re amazing, actually.” She could feel her face getting warm and looked away. “I’m really happy to be here with you. I-I mean all of you. You know? With the guild and-”

 

Rielle shifted closer to Tess, and pulled the blanket around them tighter. Before she realized, Tess looked to her and smiled. Rielle placed her hand on Tess’s, squeezing gently. “Me too,” she said as she rested her head on Tess’s shoulder.

 

Tess could feel her face practically on fire, and she was pretty confident it wasn’t the whiskey. She leaned her own head against Rielle’s, unable to stop smiling even if she wanted to. 

  
  


“So this is what you brought me up here to see?” Amaranth asked, leaning against the battlements of the castle.

 

Blaze pointed down to the docks at Rielle and Tess. “Ahh, It’s my girls!” he said with a laugh. “Look at them being all cute n’ shite! That’ll be 10 gold, Bud.”

 

Amaranth sighed and handed him the moderately sized bag of coins. “I shouldn’t have put so much down on this bet, although I’m still surprised. I didn’t think it would happen.”

 

Blaze clapped his hands. “They grow up so fast. It brings tears to me eyes.”

 

“I’m pretty sure Tess is  _ older _ than you,” Amaranth said, crossing his arms.

  
  


The breeze slowly started to blow, pushing waves into the docks that splashed their feet every couple of minutes. Neither of them wanted to move because it meant returning to reality and what they had to face.  _ Nothing matters when we’re here, wrapped in this blanket together,  _ Tess thought. “I’ll be your shield, Rielle. Don’t worry,” she whispered under her breath.

 

“Hmm?” Rielle replied, her mind clearly lost out at sea.

 

Tess gently squeezed Rielle’s hand one more time. “It’s nothing. We should probably head back up and get some rest.”

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Rielle took the blanket and helped Tess up to her feet. She looked up at the guild hall. “I’ll have to tell Blaze to stop hiding up there.”

 

Tess’s face flushed more red than before. “What! He was watching us?” Rielle nodded in their direction. Tess balled up her fists and stomped her foot on the docks. “Dammit, Blaze!” she shouted. “I’m going to kill you before Zhaitan even gets a chance to!”

 

They could hear Blaze’s chuckling all the way down at the docks. Tess, whose cheeks were still a rosy shade of red, grabbed Rielle’s hand and lead them back up to the castle. Rielle couldn’t help but to crack a smile and giggle.


	24. Destroyer

 

_ Bang! Bang! Bang! _ Amaranth pounded on the door to Rielle’s room before barging in. She groaned and mumbled incoherently before lifting her face that was buried in the pillow. “Whaaat? I was comfy… You ruined it,” she said with a yawn.

 

“Oh thank goodness,” Amaranth said. “It’s just you. I half expected to see Tess too, but-”

 

Rielle launched her pillow at him directly, hitting him in the face. “Uuugh, not you too.”

 

Amaranth recovered from the headshot, rolling his eyes. “Rude. Anyway, things are bad and we need to get going.  _ Quickly _ , if I may add.”

 

“Why? What’s going on?” Rielle asked.

 

“It’s Divinity’s Reach, and it’s been hit hard,” Amaranth said, walking over and handing her back the pillow. “Briefing downstairs in the hall in 20 minutes. We’ll leave directly after that.”

 

“Mm,” Rielle said, immediately feeling awake from the news. As Amaranth turned to leave he placed his hand on the doorframe and paused. “Rielle, prepare for the worst,” he said as he shut Rielle’s door behind him.

 

 

As they began gathering in the main hall the group remained silent, well aware of the fate they would soon be facing. The door to the basement opened as Blaze emerged, pouring a dark unlabeled bottle into his flask. He took a quick swig from the bottle before setting it down nearby.

 

“Blaze, it’s 8 a.m,” Tess said.

 

Blaze put the flask into a pack on his belt. “Ya got to savour these things, lass,” he said, adjusting the molten obsidian axes at his waist.

 

Tess crossed her arms. “And I still don’t get how those don’t melt a hole straight into your thighs, either.”

 

Blaze smirked. “Does a sword cut your hand when you use it?”

 

“No?” Tess answered, raising her brow. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“A tool doesn’t turn on its master. Don’t worry about it,” Blaze replied.

 

As Rielle entered the hall their attention went to her. She was carrying the sheathed  _ Azure Edge _ with her.

 

“So, no armour then?” Tess asked with obvious concern in her voice.

 

“You know that I’ll move faster without it,” Rielle answered. She typically wore a hardened leather tunic under her coat, with some light metal greaves. Now she was just wearing pants, tight leather boots, and her black coat with a cropped sleeveless top underneath. “I suppose it seems unconventional considering how heavily armed and armoured you, Blaze, and even Amar are, but… trust me, okay?”

 

Tess hesitated before she spoke. “But what if -” she started to ask. “Ok, you’re right. Faster...”

 

“So this is the sword then?” Grenic asked. “The one you forged from dragon scale?”

 

Rielle held the sword in front of her and pushed the hilt with her thumb, revealing a bit of the black blade from its sheath. “This is the one,” she said. The circuits in her arm began glowing brightly and the sword radiated with a blue light. It quickly transmuted into raw mana and faded into her body. “If it’s a good day, I won’t need it.”

 

“Don’t worry, it won’t be,” Blaze said in a serious tone. “Amaranth, tell boss what we’re up against.”

 

“Right,” Amaranth said. He swiped his hand in front of him and a map appeared. “As of 2 hours ago the Elder Dragon Zhaitan itself has made an appearance. It came in like a storm above the human city of Divinity’s Reach, bringing a horde of risen creatures and undead players. In less than an hour they marched through Kessex Hills and Queensdale and to the city gates, wiping out the Queen’s men along the way.”

 

“Just like in Lion’s Arch,” Rielle said. “Except it only made an appearance? Where is the dragon now?”

 

“We’re unsure.” Amaranth waved the map away. “The dragon has apparently vanished since then. The risen have taken the city, but this time it’s different.”

 

“Different, different how?” Grenic asked, clenching his fists.

 

Amaranth grabbed hold of his chin. “This last scout barely made it out alive to give her report, and it just… don’t make sense. She spotted a cloaked figure moving in with a handful of risen and holding the palace, shutting its doors behind them.”

 

“Ya think it was Goden again?” Blaze asked.

 

Rielle shook her head. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. I don’t think he was behind the attack on Lion’s Arch, I think he was just  _ there _ . When I saw him the look in his eye was still his, so I don’t think he was under Zhaitan’s influence. Still… this seems too organized to just be an undead army attacking.”

 

“Well regardless, if you’re ready let’s head out,” Blaze said. “We’ve got a queeny to save!”

 

Rielle gave them a nod. “Right. Let’s get into that palace.”

 

 

Using the waypoint that was just outside, the five of them quickly found themselves looking up at the crumbling outer walls of the city.

 

Grenic hurried to a vantage point overlooking the main gate. “There’s not much remaining of the main gate, besides a group of about thirty undead it seems.”

 

“So what’s the plan?” Amaranth asked, looking to Rielle. “Do we scale the walls somehow or…?”

 

Blaze pointed in the vague direction of a small village nearby. “There’s an underground entrance to the city nearby. Although I’d think we’d have to fight off anyone turned all ghouly there anyway.”

 

Amaranth squinted to see the village he was referring to. “What kind of entrance goes underground from that place?”

 

“It’s a way under the city that’s connected to a tavern in the Salma district,” Blaze said, shrugging. “Don’t ask how I know that.”

 

_ The Salma district? _ Rielle thought. “No, that won’t work. It’s too deep in the lower districts and we’ll probably see a lot of resistance that way.”

 

“It’s a risen  _ army _ ,” Tess said. “We’re going to see a lot of resistance any way.”

 

Rielle looked down to the main gates. “We’re going to have to just risk it. If the risen want a fight then we’ll bring it to them, straight up the main street and directly to the palace.”

 

Blaze unsheathed one of his axes, flipping it in the air with a huge grin. “Ohhhh, this is going to be fun.”

 

 

They charged in through the main gate, facing the resistance that awaited. With the five of them together, it didn’t amount to much resistance at all. Past the main gate and into the plaza however, the body count only continued to grow. The invading horde was still running rampant throughout, crushing what little of the Queen’s men remained.

 

“This never does get any easier,” Amaranth said, cutting through one of the horrid creatures.

 

Blaze cleaved a risen Norn in two with a fierce swing of his axe. “Ah, don’t tell me you’re getting squeamish there!”

 

“Well we certainly got their attention,” Amaranth replied. “Their numbers are-”

 

“Amar, behind you!” Rielle shouted. The sound of thundering stomps echoed down the street. Amaranth turned just in time to see the side of a nearby building shatter into a cloud of mortar and stone. He flung a dagger from his belt near Rielle’s feet, and as it struck the ground he vanished into a purple mist, reappearing in front of her. 

 

As the huge cloud of dust cleared they began to see the creature responsible. A hulking risen abomination roared with a rumbling cry as it readied to charge again.

 

“I don’t think you can use  _ Blink _ on all of us, huh?” Rielle asked Amaranth.

 

“Unlikely, now run!” he shouted back.

 

The abomination wasted no time and began to charge at them, it’s massive club primed to strike. As she ran, Rielle looked back at their enemy. Blaze stood unwavering between them and the abomination.

 

“Blaze, get back!” Rielle yelled.

 

Blaze sheathed his axes and stood unarmed, bracing himself and his stance. “Not today, ya monster,” he said, cracking his neck. The hulking creature raised its club and roared more fiercely, flesh and bile coming from Its maw. As the beast swung down to crush him, Blaze raised his fist directly into the club itself. The force from the attack caused the ground beneath Blaze to crack, the shockwave running through him and crumbling the brick under his feet. His stance remained completely solid.

 

“Ha! Is that all?” Blaze said, clenching his teeth, grinning wildly. “Then it’s time to  _ BURN _ !” He shouted. The abomination’s club began to crack where it met Blaze’s fist. Another shockwave pulsed through the ground, this time radiating from Blaze himself. A fury of flames spun up from around his feet and covered Blaze’s body, gathering around his other fist. Blaze cocked his fist back and the flames formed a blinding ball of fire around it. He launched his fist at the abomination, and the concentrated flames erupted with a massive force, the explosion covering the both of them and blowing the rest of the party off their feet.

 

As the smoke cleared all that remained was Blaze, surrounded by piles of ash and bone. The flames quickly whipping and cracking off of his body as they went out.

 

Rielle slowly got back to her feet, and rolled her shoulder with a  _ pop _ . “Dammit, Blaze!”

 

He turned to her and smirked. 

 

“Warn us next time you plan to explode!” Rielle shouted.

 

Blaze’s typical grin vanished and gave her a stony-faced look. “We’ve got to get up that street as fast as we can,” he said, pointing to the palace. “ - and I don’t see an end to these horrors that want to rip ya throat out!”

 

Rielle let out a heavy breath. “I know, Blaze. You’re right but-”

 

“But nothing, friend,” Blaze said as he walked over, and placed his hand on Rielle’s shoulder. “We’ve gotta’ job to do, protecting these people. Hell, protectin’ all of Tyria at this rate.” Blaze turned and looked up towards the palace. “We both know, and can very bloody well  _ see _ , the force that’s growing around the entrance up there.”

 

“It’s like the risen know where we’re headed, as if they intently trying to keep us from reaching the palace,” Grenic said.

 

Amaranth took a few steps forward, away from the city gate. “And it looks like more are coming from the south. How lovely.”

 

Blaze looked to Rielle, a fire in his eyes starting to burn. “Make the call.”

 

Rielle shook her head. “Blaze, what call? We have to somehow-”

 

“Make the call,” Blaze said. “Look, you have power. We know.” He held out his palm and a wisp of flame swirled in his hand before he clenched his fist tightly. “The thing is, Rielle… You’ve got to get there first.”

 

Rielle nodded and grabbed his hand, a spark of her mana arcing over Blaze’s knuckles. “You’d better know what you’re doing.”

 

As he let go Blaze reached for the flask at his waist, slamming back a drink. “Here,” he said, handing the open container to Rielle. “The rest is yours.”

 

Rielle took a drink, and put the container into her own pouch.

 

“Ya damn sure I’ll want my flask back later though!” Blaze said, grinning.

 

The five of them stood facing the growing horde that was gathering at the palace gates. “Alright, we’ve only got one shot at this! Tess and Amar will take the front line, while Grenic and I lay cover fire. Keep everything off of Blaze!”

 

Grenic raised his staff in the air, a swirling green mist surrounding them. “Now, for Tyria!”

 

Blaze shouted, colliding his fists together. “No! For the DRGN!”

 

They charged toward the palace with a wave of spells and arrows launching forward at the massing force of risen standing in their way. With every enemy they slayed, another came to take its place. Blaze continued behind them, making distance between himself and his comrades.

 

“If you’re going to make a move, Blaze, do it soon!” Rielle shouted.

 

“We’ve got more coming from the east!” Tess said, carving through another enemy.

 

Grenic leapt to Rielle’s side. “And we’ve got more at the south gate. A group of abominations charging up the street to us!”

 

Rielle jumped back, firing a barrage of arrows behind them from midair. “ _ Blaze! _ ” she shouted.

 

Blaze slammed both his axes into the ground on either side of him, and threw his arms out in front of him, a circle of flames shooting up around his body. “Go! Push everything you’ve got into carving a path through those monsters, and get to that palace!”

 

Above Blaze, the sky itself looked like it was being torn apart. Flames shot up from his body, filling the maw that was forming above them.

 

“What are you doing?!” Rielle exclaimed.

 

“ _ GO! _ Before the flames take you too!” Blaze screamed.

 

Rielle was yanked away, with Tess pulling her from the fires. Grenic slammed the end of his staff into the ground, causing spires of bone to shoot up from beneath and impaling enough risen to make a gap in the horde. “Amaranth, now!” he shouted.

 

Amaranth rushed in front of them, leaping into the air above. He threw his swords into the center of the horde and a massive sigil covered the area. Amaranth landed near the palace entrance and raised a barrier around himself. “Run through the gap on my mark! Three… Two… One... “ He threw his last dagger into the base of the magic sigil. “ _ Gravity Well! _ ”

 

The area flashed with an intense purple aura, shackling the risen force frozen in time itself. The three remaining bolted through, and as their feet touched the sigil suddenly they moved at a breakneck speed. Within an instant the three of them met Amaranth on the other side of the risen horde, now nothing standing between them and the palace gate.

 

“Seven seconds left,” Amaranth said, panting.

 

Rielle ran for the door, kicking it open. “Hurry, everyone in!” Sprinting, the four of them entered the palace. “Help me brace the door,” Rielle shouted, as Tess came over and they dropped the door bar into place. The door shook violently as the risen began to pound on it from the outside.

 

“We were just in time,” Tess said. “And it looks like this will hold for now.” The beating on the door slowly stopped and an eerie silence grew outside. “Rielle, is Blaze going to-”

 

A message appeared as floating text in front of each of them.  _ Just keep moving forward. [Lord of the Blaze has left the party.] _

 

Blaze’s voice echoed from outside, his maniacal laughing bellowing over the sound of crashing stone and the hollow cries of the risen. A tremor resonated through the ground at their feet, and the terrible sounds from the other side of the door ceased.

 

Rielle stepped forward, a drop of blood from her clenched fist hitting the marble floor. 

 

“Rielle…” Tess said, softly.

 

Rielle opened her hand and glanced at the bloody imprints left by her nails.

 

_ Clap. Clap. Clap.  _ They heard as the doors to the main hall opened before them. As the four of them entered they noticed that the walls and columns were slowly being covered in a grime that resembled flesh and shards of bone. The spacious hall was almost completely covered in the corruption.

 

A tall figure in a dark cloak rose from the throne, and clapped his hands once more. “We’re so glad you could finally make it, the oh-so-great and mighty ones. The heroes that slayed Zhaitan itself in years past!”

 

Rielle held out her hand, the circuits in her body pulsing brightly, as  _ Azure Edge _ appeared before her. As she swung the sword to her side, it’s blade burst with mana that channeled through her body. “Answer me this,” she said. “Who are you? Did you create this world?”

 

The figured lowered his hood, and beneath it was a bald man with luminously pale skin. The man grinned viciously as he raised his hands. “Oh no, my dear… I didn’t create it. The world was already here.”

 

“T-that doesn’t make any sense!” Tess shouted.

 

“And why doesn’t it?” The man asked, and licked his teeth. “I simply freed us. Freed _ them! _ So that they could consume what is rightfully theirs and rule again!”

 

Amaranth raised his fists. “The Elder Dragons? You brought us to this world to feed us to them?!”

 

“Oh ho ho, what little you know,” the man said. His malicious expression vanished as his face and went completely blank. He pulled from the pile of flesh in front of him a femur-shaped bone that was sharpened to a point. The weapon engulfed itself in a powerful dark energy that erupted from the cloaked man’s palm. “But that ends now, I’m afraid.”


	25. The Guardian and the Dragon Knight

 

“But that ends now, I’m afraid,” their enemy said as he rose the disgusting blade in his hand. “I am Zhaitan’s Chosen, Razakel. Our world will be perfect once again! Pure and untainted by our touch, after the Elder Dragons cleanse the land!”

 

Tess drew her sword. “Then answer us one more question, before I cut you down myself.”

 

“Let me guess,” Razakel said, his eye twitching rapidly as he licked his teeth. “You want to know why you? Why me? Where has the old world gone and why has it been replaced with magic and  _ beauty! _ ”

 

“I think I already understand,” Tess replied, raising her shield. 

 

“Tess…?” Rielle asked, stepping by her side.

 

Tess looked to Rielle with confidence. “He fights for the Elder Dragons. This man has clearly lost his mind, or worse...” she said with a heavy breath, tightening the grip of her sword arm. “Let’s take this guy down.”

 

Rielle furrowed her brow and nodded, a longsword materializing in her hand. 

 

Razakel bit his lip and his eyes widened. “So you won’t use the blade forged from the dragon. Fine! I’ll just have to make you use it!”

 

Rielle scoffed. “Amar, I need you on support with Grenic. Find me an opening.” 

 

Amaranth nodded. “I’ll do what I can with my remaining mana, boss.”

 

Tess and Rielle each stepped forward, looking each other in the eye. This was their most powerful foe yet, and with one member down they knew they wouldn’t come out of the fight unscathed. 

 

Razakel screeched through his menacing grin, running at the two. He lunged his entire body forward, swinging the blade wildly. With every hit on Tess’s shield Razakel’s attacks hit harder and harder. He gracelessly jumped between the two of them, striking like a feral beast. 

 

They danced around Razakel, parrying his fierce but predictable attacks. “Rielle, twelve seconds and I can put a bone cage up around this guy,” Grenic said.

 

Rielle shook her head. “No, save it,” she said, clashing swords with Razakel. Rielle noticed the edge on her fabricated blade was becoming dull from the fight.  _ At this rate I’m going to have to make another blade, or switch to Azureflame and change tactics,  _ she thought.  _ What is this guy playing at? It’s like he’s- _

 

Tess jumped in front of Rielle, blocking Razakel’s next attack for her. “Rielle, he’s biding time like he’s waiting for something. He’s putting less weight into his attacks.”

 

Razakel froze before them, with that eerie grin remaining plastered to his face. He cocked his chin up towards the ceiling. “Oh girl, you’re correct,” he said, with that same maniacal laughter from before. “Why would  _ I  _ fight you? I’m too valuable to die here.” Razakel tossed his weapon aside and slowly walked towards the throne. “Why, may I ask you all, would an omnipotent being such as Zhaitan need to come to a petty human castle that’s nowhere near his domain?”

 

Tess shrugged. “Ok, well first off It’s  _ not  _ omnipotent-”

 

“SILENCE, MORTAL,” Razakel screamed. “You know nothing of their power…” He cleared his throat. “No, you fools, what brings my master’s forces and I here is a power that lies within this castle. One that your precious queen has been keeping from us for too long.” He reached behind the throne and a loud  _ click _ was heard. A panel in the floor began to rise revealing a stone pedestal that held a greatsword with a wide blade that was black as midnight. The blade seemed to hum as it radiated a strange red aura.

 

“I’m so sorry to disappoint you however,” Razakel explained. “I have not been chosen as Zhaitan’s champion this day.” He thrusted his arm out from his side, and a shadow-like mist emanated from his palm.

 

“What’s he summoning?” Tess asked, with a horrified look on her face.

 

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Rielle replied. She conjured Azureflame and drew the bow back, aimed at Razakel. It was too late. Just as she fired the gateway solidified and out stepped a man in jet-black armour. It rushed in front of Razakel, catching the arrow in its shoulder. 

 

Razakel simply laughed as the Black Knight ripped the arrow from itself.

 

“Fuck…,” Rielle blurted out.

 

The knight took hold of the blade in the pedestal, and the reddish aura erupted in his hands. A massive black spiral of energy filled the room, shaking the very earth beneath them. Tess sheathed her blade and ran to Rielle, grabbing her hand before the hall filled with the darkness. 

 

A shock wave pulsed from the center of the spiraling darkness. As Rielle opened her eyes she saw her guardian standing firmly in front of her. Tess held her shield-arm raised firmly, and her other arm tightly wrapped around Rielle’s waist. As the darkness faded and they caught their breath, Tess lowered her shield to see the horror that stood before them.

 

The black knight’s sword, now transformed into a much longer greatsword, was covered in blood. It was driven deeply into Razakel’s chest, with his head hunched over onto the hilt of the blade.

 

“It… It turned on him?” Tess asked.

 

“Watch out!” Amaranth yelled. “This guy’s completely unlike the one we fought in the mirror world from before!” 

 

Rielle drew another arrow aimed at the armoured knight. “Great… Either of you two see any weaknesses?”

 

Grenic shook his head. “No, but the dark aura that’s pouring out of his blade…” He clenched his fists. “It's actually mana, Rielle. Mana corrupted by Zhaitan. It has the same magical signature as every undead we’ve killed and I’d recognize it anywhere.”

 

Before Rielle could respond, the knight ripped the blade from the corpse of Razakel and turned to them. 

 

Tess drew her sword again. “Rielle, on your-!”

 

Without a single word the knight charged at them, dragging the claymore along the ground behind him. Rielle quickly jumped to her right, firing a barrage of arrows. As if it could completely ignore the weight of the massive blade, the black knight swung the greatsword at each arrow with blinding speed. 

 

“Deflect this, asshole!” Rielle shouted, kneeling on down one knee. The circuits in her arm pulsed brightly as she drew back an arrow twice the normal size. As she fired the arrow broke the sound barrier with a loud echoing  _ CRACK _ . The knight turned and ran towards the shot, recklessly holding it’s weapon in front of itself like a shield. Rielle’s arrow hit dead-on, however it completely snapped and disintegrated when it met the opponent’s blade. 

 

The knight raised its fist in the air, and a dark ball of mana gathered around it. He quickly thrusted his palm outwardly towards Rielle, and the attack shot from his hand. 

 

_ The fuck is that!?  _ Rielle quickly thought. She jumped as high as she could, backflipping as the orb of darkness shot underneath and collided with the wall behind her.

 

With Rielle distracted, and now further away from her teammate, the knight rushed towards Tess. “Fine, bring it. Trash-heap!” Tess shouted at her enemy. She charged toward the knight, shield raised, read to block it’s opening attack. 

 

The knight tilted its head at her and growled. It raised it’s sword and dashed even faster at Tess. As she raised her shield, a faint purple aura surrounded it, fortifying Tess’s stance and her shield against the attack.  _ Thanks, Amaranth.  _ The knight’s claymore met her shield with a ear-shattering screech. Quickly under her breath, Tess enchanted her sword with a spell of lightning. Before the knight could react to seeing the spark that shot from Tess’s blade, she shouted and drove it into the knight’s hip. Electricity arced across the knight's body and it howled in pain.

 

_ An opening!  _ Tess thought. “Rielle, now!”

 

Rielle drew another powerful shot, but before Tess could move out of the way the cursed knight rose it’s sword above it’s head. A red aura covered the dark blade. In a brief moment of panic, Tess let go of her blade that was still embedded deep inside her enemy. She moved quickly to put her entire body weight into bracing her shield arm, but it was futile.

 

When the attack connected, it had more force behind it than Tess could imagine. The sword obliterated Tess’s shield upon impact and she was pushed completely onto the ground. She felt like she was hit by a truck, or worse.

 

“Tess!” Rielle shouted as she ran to her.

 

Before Rielle could make it in time, the knight lunged forward and took a wild swing at Tess’s body. The attack from the blade struck the ground before it hit her, cleaving the marble floor and taking most of the blow. Tess was caught by the side of the blade, rather than the edge, due to the knight’s savage but careless swing, and it launched her from the ground a few meters away.

 

Rielle instinctively thrusted her arm at the black knight, and screamed. As she yelled, the circuits in her chest and arm glowed immensely as an entire sword manifested itself in the air beside her shoulder. Before she realized what or how she was doing it, Rielle shot the mana-covered blade from midair at the knight like a bullet, piercing his ribcage straight through his armour.

 

Without a second thought of what just happened, Rielle ran to Tess as fast as she could and picked her up in her arms. She sprinted over to the others, and laid Tess down in front of Amaranth. Grenic dug his staff into the ground, and created a wall of giant bones to cover them. Shouting an incantation, he raised his arm as a group of his skeletal minions rose to defend them. “Rielle, you know this distraction won’t last long,” he said.

 

“It won’t need to,” Rielle replied. “Just focus on healing her wounds, Amar. I’m going back out there.”

 

Tess grabbed Rielle’s hand. “You can’t! We-” She said, coughing. “We have nobody on the front lines and that  _ thing  _ will kill you!”

 

Rielle looked in her eyes. “I have to-”

 

Tess squeezed her hand tighter.

 

Rielle set out a gentle sigh and smiled softly. “It’s okay, trust me. I’ll protect you too.” She stood and let go of Tess’s hand. Rielle gave them each a nod and Grenic tore apart part of the bone shield. 

 

The knight cleaved through the last of Grenic’s minions, and turned to Rielle. It howled deeply as it ripped the blade she launched at it from it’s ribs.

 

“You want a fight, huh?” Rielle said, sparks of mana arcing and cracking down her arm. “Your master- Or whatever the hell he was gave you an Elder Dragon’s power…” She held out her open palm and her own blue flames burst forth from her hand. “Well it’s time I showed you _ mine! _ ” Rielle shouted. With a flash the mana from her hand discharged and she drew the materialized Azure Edge in her hand. The black blade of her sword lit with the same blue flames as before and sparks of mana continued to arc from around Rielle’s arm.

 

Without hesitation, the knight charged at Rielle with it’s immense speed, almost as if it was drawn to the sight of her blade. Rielle stood firmly still, as an image of Blaze appeared in her mind. The knight’s sword crashed down onto her, but Rielle struck upwards with Azure Edge, the two black blades crashing together. The blue flames collided with the knight’s dark red aura and they began repelling each other. The flashing image of Blaze was followed by Tess and Rielle’s other comrades. _Is it revenge I want? Or just to prove myself? No, I don’t care anymore._ _I have people to protect, and this creature only wants to destroy. Well I’m going to destroy him._

 

Rielle shifted her stance, and quickly jabbed her heel into the knight’s stomach. She twisted her blade around the knight’s and cleaved it into the side of its helm.

 

The knight growled and yelled, jumping back and clenching the wound on it’s face. The helm began to crack, and the knight tore at it even more. It jabbed it’s claymore into the ground and tore at it’s helm with both hands, revealing a sight that could only have been straight out of Rielle’s nightmares.

 

The knight’s helmet hit the ground and crumbled to pieces. Rielle froze at the familiar face of her enemy. Before her stood Nox, his face covered in sores and torn pieces of flesh. 

 

_ This is what that apparition in the tomb was talking about.  _ Rielle thought.  _ My friend… She thought we were looking for Nox, because she could tell he was still alive… Or something? That was why she said to look in Orr. Nox was in Orr because Zhaitan must have reanimated him a second time!  _

 

“B-but how?” Rielle asked. “You’re… truly reanimated this time, aren’t you?”

 

Nox opened his clenched fists and grabbed his weapon with both hands.

 

“No…” Rielle said softly. “There’s nothing left of you anymore. You don’t even recognize me or anyone else here.” She held up her blade, and it burst with mana again. 

 

Nox charged at her, furious at nothing else but his own pain. “DIIIE!” He roared as bile shot from his throat. Nox’s attacks clashed with Rielle’s with quick succession, only proving to get harder with each hit. 

 

Rielle jumped back, swinging a wave of flames from her blade at Nox.  _ He’s fighting like his master, only for real this time. Is he really getting stronger? _ She leaped towards him, crashing her blade into his. A chip of Nox’s blade shot out from under Rielle’s attack, and caught her across the cheek. Rielle winced, and without hesitation Nox shot his fist into her abdomen. She recoiled from the pain, trying to dodge Nox’s next attack. He swung his greatsword up from the ground, knocking Rielle back as she barely parried the attack. 

 

Rielle panted heavily.  _ I need to hit harder… Swing faster… Something!  _ Rielle remembered the blade she materialized and shot like a projectile from the air.  _ How did I even manage that?  _

 

“Rielle!” Someone shouted. Rielle snapped back to reality, unsure whose voice that was. She held her blade forward, and rushed at Nox before he could launch another attack. Nox lunged forward, stabbing the massive greatsword forward. Rielle leapt into the air, and stepped off of Nox’s greatsword itself. She jabbed Azure Edge down into Nox’s collarbone deeply, and he fell to one knee.  _ Just like the dragon knight in Hoelbrak.  _ “This is it, Nox!” Rielle shouted. 

 

“N-n-no…” Nox said, the blood spilling from his mouth. “This time I  _ KILL  _ you!” Nox grabbed Rielle by the ankle, and tossed her forward. Rielle crashed and rolled across the ground. Nox stood, ripping Azure Edge from his body, tossing it aside. 

 

“I… I remember you,” Nox said, coughing up more blood and bile. He forced himself to take a step forward, picking up his weapon from the ground. “This time you die here, not me.”

 

Nox held his sword before him, the menacing dark aura completely surrounding it’s blade. He screamed, charging at Rielle.

 

Rielle pressed against the ground trying to move. She felt someone rush past her and a splash of warm liquid hit her leg.

 

It was blood. 

 

Rielle looked up to find Blaze stood between them, with Nox’s blade pierced through Blaze’s chest. Rielle laid on the ground in complete shock. Nox stepped back, pulling his blade from Blaze’s body. 

 

Blaze fell to his knees, the rest of his body completely motionless. “B-Blaze…” Rielle whimpered, holding out her hand to him. An ember of flame began from below Blaze’s body and the fire spread, covering all of him in flames. Rielle watched as the body of her friend and comrade quickly turned to ash before her, leaving behind only his cloak and his one remaining molten axe.

 

Tess shouted Rielle’s name from afar, as she tried to get up to help her. Amaranth only held her back with complete silence.

 

The tears stopped and Rielle’s knees quit shaking. She stood, head down, without saying a word.

 

“It’s time to finished this,” Nox growled. 

 

Rielle clenched her chest, and ripped off her long black coat. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Mana shot from her hands and pulled both Azure Edge and Blaze’s molten axe to her hands. In her right, the circuits burned and radiated with blue flame brighter than ever before. Blaze’s axe covered her entire left arm in a black, obsidian-like texture, that was set ablaze with a bright red flame. Rielle charged at Nox with blinding speed, searing the ground with every step.

 

Every attempt Nox made to parry Rielle’s barrage of attacks was met by a colossal force behind both of her weapons. She was going into a total rage, swinging the weapons at Nox without hesitation. There was still grace behind her attacks however. Each hit was as precise as she was furious. 

 

Rielle swung Blaze’s axe from below, catching Nox’s weapon by its hilt. She followed with a quick jab from her right, striking straight through Nox’s guard and knocking him wide open. Rielle leapt and jabbed both of her feet into his chest, launching him backwards as she flipped back herself. Nox fell back into the Queen’s throne, dazed from the force behind her attack.

 

The flames surrounding Rielle’s weapons radiated with more ferocity. She stabbed each of them into the ground at her side, as a huge surge of energy gathered around her. Rielle reached out with one hand as the blade and axe began to sink into the spiral of mana growing at the ground around her. 

 

Nox, trying to regain his stability, stumbled forward as he tried to balance himself with his weapon. Witnessing the surging mana at Rielle’s feet, he shook his dizziness and began to run towards her. Rielle raised her left hand slightly, and six blades materialized in the air beside her, three on each side. She clenched her left hand, and the blade fired in quick succession at her enemy, stabbing through Nox’s feet and pinning him to the ground where he stood.

 

Rielle finally rose both of her arms and the flames and surge of mana turned jet-black. The flames shot into the apex of the mana in front of her, and out arose a long black scythe, made from the two weapons she wielded. 

 

Tess was finally able to stand, along with Amaranth and Grenic behind the wall of bone that was beginning to fade. “Just what is this power…?” She asked.

 

“I’m not sure…” Amaranth tried to reply. “We had a feeling that Blaze could channel Balthazar’s power but this is… I don’t know how it's possible but Rielle’s temporarily fused it with her own mana she got from the Azure Dragon.”

 

Rielle took the scythe that floated before her, quickly spinning it around her body with one hand. She held the long blade from the scythe behind her, and stood ready to strike. The remaining mana at her feet shot behind her, gathering into what looked like wings made of pure energy. 

 

With a single step, Rielle launched herself forward and flew faster than she ever moved before. Nox held his dark weapon before him, in a feeble attempt to block the seemingly unstoppable force behind Rielle’s attack. 

 

Rielle carved through Nox’s weapon with a fury that tore it asunder, obliterating the greatsword and cleaving through Nox’s body completely.

 

Nox’s corpse fell to the ground, covered in the blue and red flames left from the attack. This time it burned until nothing was left.

 

As Rielle walked to the rest of them, her wings, the scythe, and eventually the flames that covered the battlefield dissipated completely. She fell to her knees at the spot where Blaze’s ashes remained, dropping both Azure Edge and Blaze’s axe at her sides.

 

Tess, Amaranth, and Grenic ran to her side. “Both of them have been defeated, and I can sense the risen outside beginning to spread out from the city,” Grenic said.

 

Amaranth looked to him. “All this… All of this, and we still don’t have a solid reason as to why they attacked.”

 

Tess picked up Blaze’s cloak as she knelt down in front of Rielle, wrapping both the cloak and her arms around her. Rielle was in tears and fell into her arms, burying her face into Tess’s collar. 

 

Tess continued to hold her, not letting go. “It’s ok, it’s over now.”

 

Rielle shook her head, and looked at Tess with bloodshot eyes. “No, our fight is far from over.”


	26. Rainy Mood

The halls of their guild headquarters had grown cold and quiet in the days following the battle at Divinity’s Reach, and the loss they desperately needed time to mourn. A number of projects that they had been working on slowly grinded to a halt, and aside from general medical exams the four of them had barely left the guild hall at all. Amaranth’s interest had peaked when Rielle mentioned her mana circuits would occasionally pulse a shade of purple or red rather than her typical blue. She insisted she was fine however, and the cause had to have been just stress.

 

Rielle rolled over in bed, squinting at the clock on the wall above her desk.  _ It’s already 2:23 am? Damn, this whole sleep thing is overrated,  _ she thought. She leaned her head up to look out the window.  _ This storm is coming down pretty hard.  _ Her bare feet met the chill of the floor as she stumbled out of bed, legs numb from tossing and turning for a few hours now. Rielle grabbed a long wool cloak and draped it over her shoulders, knowing that the downstairs was probably too cold for just the short night gown she was wearing. 

 

The stairs creaked as Rielle crept down to the den, both trying to not make too much noise and too exhausted to move much faster than that. She leaned on the door, slowly putting her body weight on it to open it. The fireplace was lit with a small flame still ablaze. In one of the lounge chairs nearby sat Tess, sipping on a mug of tea, staring into the burning logs. 

 

Tess glanced over to the door. “Ah… Can’t sleep either?”

 

“Not at all. Although you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Rielle said. Tess smiled briefly, and continued to look into the fire. Rielle noticed a bottle sitting out on the table between the two lounge chairs. “May I?” she asked.

 

“It was sitting out when I came down,” Tess replied. “I think the guys had been sharing it earlier before they turned in.”

 

Rielle smelled the rim of the bottle, unsure of its contents. “Maybe this’ll help,” she said, taking a drink from the bottle.

 

Tess hardly moved, only doing so to take a sip of tea. “I thought with him gone that our cellar would stay stocked a bit longer,” she said, her throat sounding dry and harsh. “You drinking for two over there?”

 

Rielle plopped herself into the chair, pulling the cloak over her bare legs. “I…,” she started, staring at the bottle in her hand before setting on the table between them. “You’re right… I mean I typically just run on coffee and alcohol, but I guess I have been drinking more than usual the past couple of days.” Rielle scratched the back of her head, shrugging her shoulders. “Everything just feels wrong now.”

 

Finally setting the mug aside, Tess turned to look at her. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to accuse you of-” She hesitated for a moment, looking down at the cuts and scrapes on her hands. “I know what you mean. Even though we won the battle it feels like  _ we _ lost the most.”

 

The circuits on Rielle’s skin pulsed, if only for a brief second, a shade of red. She shook her head, trying to ignore the spark of mana and hoping Tess didn’t notice either. “I know we did everything we could… and everything that happened with his axe and that transformation I had.” She paused to clear her throat, the images of the form she took during the battle flooding her mind. “I just… I just feel like I wasn’t fast enough. I could have done more, or something.”

 

Tess’ grip tightened on the arm of the chair as she looked back to Rielle. “There was no way any of us could have expected to see what we did. That man you knew resurrected again and under the dragon’s control. The manifestation of a legendary weapon when he took that sword from the throne. It was just too much, Rielle.”

 

Rielle just sat there, nodding for a moment. “Yeah, and that wasn’t even the Elder Dragon itself. Just some of its minions.” 

 

They both stopped and looked into the fire, an awkward pause forming between them. “So,” Tess began. “How do you think it was that man you knew was resurrected again? Didn’t his friend take him somewhere to bury him?”

 

Rielle pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. “Oh, now it all make sense. That’s why we keep seeing Goden everywhere there’s a risen attack.” She reached over, grabbing the bottle and taking a quick drink. “He must have made a deal with some worshiper or follower of Zhaitan’s hoping they could bring Nox back.”

 

“By the gods, I bet you’re right,” Tess said. “And of course bringing him back meant nothing, because at this point he was just a walking corpse. Goden followed him around to probably protect him.”

 

“But he could never get to close,” Rielle replied. “Or else he would risk Nox attacking him instead. At least that’s how it was until now… because I swear during that fight he remembered who I was.”

 

“Spooky,” the two of them said together.

 

Rielle sunk back into her chair, sliding forward. “Man, shit’s fucked,” she said with a grim look on her face.

 

Tess paused for a moment, before attempting to speak up. “Hey, I have an idea,” she said, her cheeks getting a little red. “Come sit on the floor with me closer to the fire. You can lay your head on my lap and I’ll… sing you a lullaby… or something.”

 

Rielle gave her a smile, the first one she’s made since before the battle as far as she could remember. “You’re sweet, but you don’t have to sing if you don’t want to.”

 

Tess let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness, because I’m terrible,” she said laughing awkwardly. “Um… We can still- I mean if you want…”

 

“Can’t back out now, you offered.” Rielle said, starting to get up. Tess lifted herself out of the chair, sitting on the rug in front of them, leaning her back against the chair. Rielle laid down on her side, resting her head on Tess’ lap, using her cloak as a blanket.

 

Tess sat there frozen, her face flushed red as the fire. After a couple minutes Rielle starting giggling. “You’re cute, you know that?”

 

“Whaaaaat?” Tess whined, crossing her arms, her cheeks getting hotter.

 

“Nothing,” Rielle said giggling again. “Don’t worry about it.”

 

Tess groaned, trying to make herself relax. “I just... I’m trying to…”

 

Rielle turned to look up at her, putting her finger over Tess’ lips to shush her. “It’s okay. Besides this was your idea.”

 

Tess covered Rielle’s mouth with her hand, Rielle unable to stop giggling underneath. “Guild Leader? More like  _ Guild Pain in My Ass _ .”

 

“Fiiine, I’ll stop teasing you.” Rielle said, turning back onto her side to face the fire, her head still laying on Tess’ lap. 

 

They sat listening to the cracking of the fireplace and the rain hitting the tall ceiling of the den for a few moments. Tess began to run her fingers through Rielle’s hair, quietly humming a melody in a soft tone. Rielle started to close her eyes, slowly feeling the stress and worry flow out of her, at least for tonight. The comforting sounds surrounding her were more than enough to make her forget the thoughts that raced through her mind.

 

_Her hair is getting darker recently, like the colour is fading._ Tess thought. _It was definitely brighter and more red when we met._ _She’s laying on her side marked by her mana, but I can tell there’s something different about it too. Although I doubt she’d ever tell me._ Tess continued running her hand through Rielle’s hair, curling the long strands around her fingers from time to time, humming the soothing tune over and over. _Wait… If she falls asleep in my lap then-_

 

“Hey, Rielle,” Tess whispered. There was no response.  _ Shit.  _

 

Tess paused for a moment, going over her options in her head. She awkwardly shifted out from under Rielle, trying to lift her head and then lay it on the rug gently. There was still no response. Tess knelt down in front of Rielle, putting an arm under her head and another under her legs, and slowly lifted her from the floor.  _ Holy shit, she doesn’t look it but- No, stop it. That’s rude. Ugh, but damn she’s heavy. _

 

Trying to creep back up the stairs, Tess carried Rielle to her bedroom.  _ I hope her door isn’t locked or something.  _ She turned the knob slowly, and the door creaked open.  _ Oh, thank goodness.  _ Tess carried her over to her bed, trying to set her down as gently as possible. She took the cloak out from around her, quickly noticing Rielle’s nightgown that had slid up from carrying her.  _ And that’s her ass. Oh no, oh no, I’m being a creep. Stop looking!  _ Tess quickly covered Rielle with her actual blanket, hurrying over to hang the cloak on the rack. 

 

Taking a deep breath, Tess turned back to the bed, and sat down by Rielle. She reached down to move the hair out of Rielle’s face, noticing her eye twitch slightly as she touched her. Tess smiled, too focused on the person in front of her to be embarrassed herself. She bent down, still holding back Rielle’s bangs, and kissed her forehead gently. “You know what?” Tess whispered. “I think I might be crazy but.. I think I love you.”

 

As the door shut and Rielle heard Tess leave her room, she slowly opened her eyes with a warm smile on her face. “I think I might be crazy,” Rielle whispered to herself. “But I think I love you too.”

 

The halls of DRGN HQ remained quiet for a few hours more, and the rain slowly calmed outside. Boots hit the cobblestone walkway outside of the castle’s walls, as a group of soldiers in decayed armour gathered outside the gates. At the front stood a man in chainmail, wearing a black and red hood made of tattered robes. 

  
Goden raised his sword in the air, pointing at the gates with a clenched fist. “To those of you still human, and those of you whose souls belong to Zhaitan and simply follow my orders… Tonight, everyone inside will die. No prisoners, and no mercy. I will have  _ revenge. _ ”


	27. Invader

The doors to the guild hall blew wide open with a torrent of magic and fire flowing into the entrance way. The battlecry of the soldiers echoed through the hall, quickly waking Rielle and the others. 

 

“Amar! What do I pay you for?” Rielle shouted down the hallway as she threw open her bedroom door. She had a small pack in hand, and had quickly changed into decent clothing like her life depended on it. With a piercing  _ CRACK  _ a wall of spikes made of bone shot up at the top of the stairs to her right. Grenic stood beside her, staff in hand, channeling his magic to keep the new barrier as reinforced as possible.

 

“I- I should have felt them coming, Rielle. My apologies,” Grenic said, trying to stay focused.

 

Rielle shook her head. “You were asleep, Grenic. Don’t worry about it.” Grenic simply nodded in reply.

 

Amaranth and Tess came running down the hall in a panic. “What is it? Are we being attacked?” Amaranth asked, still in his pyjamas, sword in hand.

 

“Risen… Why are they here? How did they find us?” Tess exclaimed, tightening her grip on her  sword. Fists, claws, and weapons all tore at the wall of bone at the top of the stairs, pushing Grenic’s shield to its limits.

 

“Two minutes. Grab your gear and anything important. We’ll make for the docks!” Rielle instructed. She reached out her hand toward the bone shield. “I’ll fire arrows between the gaps in the bone wall to buy us some-” As she tried to channel mana through her circuits and conjure Azureflame, the glow on her skin pulsed red instead. A sharp, searing pain shot through her arm and into her body. Rielle cried out in pain and falling to her knees.

 

“Rielle!” Grenic shouted. “Get back for now, I can handle this.” 

 

Not a moment too soon the others returned with their equipment in hand and packs on their backs. Tess hurried over to help Rielle to her feet. “Your arm... “ Tess said, pulling Rielle’s left arm up around her shoulders. “Wait, where’s the axe?”

 

“In… In my bag. I wouldn’t leave it.” Rielle said, still clenching her chest from the seething pain. “Come on… We need to leave.”

 

The four of them escaped down a side passage that led downstairs, with one of Grenic’s wraith minions leading the way. Amaranth started fumbling with a ring of keys. “S-shit… Rielle, which key is-” The door to the docks flew open as Tess moved Amaranth aside, forcing the door with a swift kick straight at the lock. He froze with the keys still in his hand. “Good to know we needed new locks, I suppose.”

 

The four of them started running down the dock towards their ship. As they ran, a strange echo was heard from below them, the water bubbling and splashing as something began to shake the supports. Tess grabbed Rielle’s arm, pulling her back just in time. Up through the wooden platforms shot a spiked club, the risen abomination holding it climbing up out of the waters and onto the docks. It stood between them and their ship, spitting bile and gore from it’s mouth as it roared.

 

Grabbing the shield hanging from her backpack, Tess charged forward sword in hand. “Get back!” she yelled. The abomination dove at her, ready to strike down with it’s maul. With a quick sidestep dodging it’s massive attack, Tess jabbed her blade into the monster’s collarbone. It’s club crushing the wooden planks at their feet. She jumped back, trying to regain her footing. “Tess, above you!” Rielle shouted. Tess flung herself forward, sliding on her knees with her shield raised above her. The abomination’s attack cracked her shield on impact, the metal backing warping under the weight of the monster’s club. Stunned by the recoil, Tess couldn’t move in time before her enemy struck again, launching her back towards the other three on her backside.

 

Sparks few out of circuits on Rielle’s body as she stepped by Tess. Her fists tightened as the mana coming from her arm and chest began to glow bright red. Rielle opened her eyes, a wisp of flame cracking across her body. 

 

Tess and the others called out her name, but Rielle couldn’t hear their voices. She could only hear the sound of her heart pounding as rage burned inside her.

 

Rielle dashed forward, screaming at the top of her lungs, and leapt high into the air. A shower of flames spiraled around her body, gathering around her fist. Rielle struck the abomination’s skull and a loud wet crushing sound was heard as she pummeled it into the docks. It’s corpse dropped off the side and sunk down into the water.

 

They stood still and silent for a moment as Rielle remained at the side of the docks, looking at her fist. The fire quickly disappeared, and her circuits faded to their usual faint blue. 

 

“Do it.” Rielle commanded, looking to Amaranth. He raised a brow, opening his mouth slightly. Rielle shook her head. “You and Blaze set it up when we got here,  _ just in case _ .”

 

“Are you talking about-” Amaranth began.

 

Rielle nodded. “This  _ is _ that case, now DO IT.” She walked over to Tess, reaching for her hand to help her to her feet. Rielle didn’t look Tess in the eye, couldn’t even if she wanted her to. A hundred thoughts raced through Rielle’s mind, but one particular one stood out.  _ What is happening to me? _

 

They quickly ran to their ship, jumping across the gap caused by the abomination. Grenic ran to the anchor, raising a skeletal arm from the shadows to pull the anchor from the waters. Amaranth sliced through the rope that attached the ship to the docks, and ran up to the helm with Rielle and Tess. He nodded to their leader, holding a small pendant in his hand.

 

“It’s time, Amar.” Rielle said. “I hope you didn’t leave anything important.”

 

Amaranth shook his head and remained silent. Unsheathing his dagger, he set the pendant on the railing in front of them. He struck the pendant with the pommel of his dagger, shattering it completely. The shards of glass and stone began to glow, and a small rune symbol flashed above the remains of the pendant. They looked up to their guild hall, and within a flash a series of explosions began to go off from within.

 

The roaring cries of the soldiers, undead or otherwise, echoed from the guildhall as the bombs went off in a chain reaction, obliterating whatever was inside.

 

“Holy shit, Amaranth!” Tess shouted, grabbing Rielle’s arm. 

 

Grenic walked up to the helm with them. “Huh… Well that’s one way to repel attackers,” he said calmly. “It’s a good thing I travel light.”

 

Rielle set her pack down as it began to fall off her shoulders, not looking away from the back of her hand as she stared at the mana etched in her skin. “Yeah, it was-”

 

A gunshot came from the battlements of the guildhall, it’s walls now crumbling to the ground. Rielle grabbed her stomach as she felt the warmth of her blood in her hand, stumbling backwards, and falling off the side of their ship.

 

Goden threw his rifle to the ground, jumping down the battlements to escape the fires and shrapnel flying from the heart of the guildhall, and fled to the north out of sight.

 

It wasn’t long before Rielle felt the warm sea breeze on her face. She slowly opened her eyes, coughing as she held her stomach. 

 

“Oh thank goodness.” Tess said, putting her hand behind Rielle helping her sit up slowly. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her voice sounded harsh as if she had been shouting. “Glad to have you back…”

 

Rielle took a drink of water from the canister Tess had just handed to her. “Why.. is your hair kind of wet?” Rielle asked, still not completely sure what was going on around her.

 

Tess smiled. “Well somebody had to jump in after you, and you know Amaranth can’t swim.”

 

Rielle smirked, holding her side as she let out a sharp breath. “Ouch, don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”

 

“It will for a little while, but we got you patched up pretty well.” Tess said, pointing out the bandages wrapped around Rielle’s waist. “He got you in the stomach, so it wasn’t fatal. Terrible aim, that one.”

 

Slowly pushing herself up with Tess’ help, Rielle stumbled to her feet and up to the helm to the others. “So… What all happened? I take it he got away.” Rielle said.

 

“No rest for the wicked, I see.” Amaranth replied. “Well, we’re short both a guild hall and an angsty turncoat who happens to go by the name of Goden.”

 

Grenic looked back to Rielle, keeping his hands on the wheel. “We’ve got no leads, and now nowhere to stay. Any ideas?”

 

Rielle pinched the bridge of her nose. “First Lion’s Arch, then Divinity’s Reach.. And now our own guildhall. Damn, just when I thought about buying an apartment in the city.”

 

Tess shrugged her shoulders. “Then what’s wrong with that?”

 

“Huh?” Rielle asked. “I was joking, mostly.”

 

“It’s brilliant really.” Tess said. “We head back to Lion’s Arch, at least for now. Get a small house or an apartment or two up in the hills and just blend for a while.”

 

Amaranth laughed. “She says get an apartment or two like it’s nothing.”

 

Rielle looked at him with disbelief. “What are you talking about? You know about the heap of gold Blaze has stashed away, right? Not to mention all those weird contacts he had that just keep the gold flowing.”

 

“Oh yeah,  _ that _ .” Amaranth said, shaking his head. “I was wondering how we got enough gold to pay for… well, basically  _ everything _ so quickly.”

 

Rielle laughed, quickly grabbing her side in pain. “Ugh, terrible aim or not this is not fun.”

 

“Well, to Lion’s Arch then.” Grenic said, pulling the wheel to one side. “Hopefully their docks are fixed by now and don’t look like what’s left of ours.”


	28. Stuck in My Head

A thick smoke covered the great hall of the palace in Divinity’s Reach. Rielle stood, sword in hand, trying to stand to face her foe. She had cuts, bruises, and gashes covering her body. Nox had severed a tendon in her left arm, rendering it completely useless.  _ If he doesn’t kill me, bleeding out will. _

 

A voice unbeknownst to them echoed through the hall. “You have been using a power that you have not earned, nor made the deal to gain. It doesn’t belong to you, and you are not  _ fit _ to wield it.” The smoke grew thicker and thicker, making it almost impossible to see their surroundings. Suddenly, Rielle’s guildmates cried out, yelling and screaming in pain. She looked around in a panic, but could only see fire spreading across the ground around her. 

 

The flames grew brighter, forcing its way through the smoke. Rielle squinted her eyes, trying to get a grasp of her surroundings. Tess ran towards her, covered in flames as she screamed, and fell to her knees in front of her. Rielle cried out Tess’ name in horror, but the fire burned too fiercely. Rielle threw her sword aside trying to muster a spell or a burst of mana in her hand.  _ Something! Anything! _ Tess fell to the ground, consumed in the flames that were devouring everything in the hall.

 

Rielle panicked as her body shook. She grabbed her wounded arm, struggling to look around amongst the chaos that was enveloping her.  _ Amar… Grenic…  _ She could hardly make out their bodies through the roaring flames. The voice echoed once more. “You are powerless without help. You rely on your comrades abilities and without them you are meaningless. Without the dragon from whom you consumed her power you would be nothing.”

 

Soon a sea of fire surrounded Rielle and Nox, and the voice’s laughter boomed through the hall, ringing in Rielle’s ears. She turned back towards Nox, who raised his greatsword and was ready to strike. Rielle just stood, frozen in time as the fire consumed everyone and everything she knew. Nox rushed forward at her, impaling the greatsword through her chest. Rielle looked down, and instead of coughing up blood a stream of ashes poured from her mouth and around the wound. “Your body is burning from the inside out, and there is nothing you can do to stop it,” the voice called. Rielle fell to her knees, the greatsword still stuck through her, and she watched the flames engulf her body.

 

Rielle screamed as she finally shook herself awake, knocking a glass off of her end table and onto the floor, shattering it. She was breathing heavily, laying in a puddle of her own sweat, and tears running down her face. She noticed a dagger stuck in the wall across from her bed and was unsure if she caused that in her sleep.

 

“Hey, I heard screaming. Are you ok?” Tess said, knocking on Rielle’s bedroom door. They had gotten a two-story townhouse with two bedrooms up on top of the cliffside hanging over Lion’s Arch. Rielle had insisted that she would be fine on her own, but Tess refused to not stay with her, saying that it made sense for the girls to stick together anyway. Amaranth decided to find a place outside of the city to the north, since it would be directly between three of the major cities up in the hills. When they asked Grenic where he’d be staying he simply shrugged and said “I’ll just stay at a pub in Lion’s Arch since nobody knows my connection to the guild. Seems like a very Blaze thing to do, right?”

 

Tess opened the door and came over to Rielle, and sat on the edge of the bed. She placed her hand on Rielle’s shoulder, and noticed the circuits in Rielle’s skin were spreading a bit farther down and across her chest. They continued to glow bright red, as Rielle held her arms trembling for a moment. She placed her hand on Tess’ and the glow began to fade slowly.

 

Rielle looked over at the enchanted safe that sat across from her bed with Blaze’s axe locked within. “It’s still locked inside, right?” Tess said. 

 

“Yeah… It must have been a nightmare.” Rielle said, nodding. “You’ll have that, I guess.”

 

Tess took Rielle’s hand. “It’s ok, you’re safe.”

 

Rielle shook her head, and looked up into Tess’ eyes. “I’m… not sure that we are.”

 

“It’s…” Tess said, glancing down at the mana etched in Rielle’s skin. “No, come on. Let’s get you out of bed so I can look at that gunshot wound.”

 

The two of them went through their morning normally, as Rielle tried to ignore and move past her awful nightmare entirely. They made breakfast and got ready to head up to Amaranth’s home for a guild meeting. It would be the first time they had actually had everyone else together in three weeks since the fall of DRGN HQ.

 

Amaranth’s home was formerly owned by a renowned pirate that saw an early demise when he tried to sail him and his crew to Cantha in a terrible storm. The storm won, obviously. The pirate’s villa wasn’t too large, but it had plenty of extra rooms for Amaranth to keep artifacts and old tomes for his research and experiments. He was going to offer to have everyone from the guild stay there, as there would be plenty of room, but the fear of the place getting attacked if they were found out was too much to risk.

 

The girls met Grenic along the way and made their way to Amaranth’s home. He answered the door wearing a half unbuttoned shirt, loose pants, and no shoes. Leaves growing a bit wildly out of the branches on his head. Tess smirked at Rielle. “I can hardly believe that the sylvari in front of us is our Amaranth.”

 

“A rare sight to see, truly.” Rielle replied completely deadpan. She looked to Tess and forced a smile. 

 

Amaranth rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, I’m a busy man.” He shuffled back into the villa, picking up a mug of coffee nearby, leading them down the hall. “Besides, I don’t see y’all doing much to manage the guild while we’ve been hiding out.”

 

Rielle crossed her arms. “I… Well actually you’re right-”

 

“That was a joke.” Amaranth said, shaking his head. “I don’t actually expect anything since we’re laying low.” He opened the backdoor of the villa to an enclosed area with a small garden and a table with chairs surrounding all sides. There were a couple bottles of wine and different alcohols with a stack of glasses in the center of the table. Amaranth set his mug down and reached for a bottle of a coffee liqueur, opening it and pouring it into his mug. “Needed more cream… Well, help yourselves- the guild paid for all this,” he said in a merry tone.

 

Grenic put his hand in front of his chest. “Isn’t it a bit early for-” 

 

Rielle reached for the bottle of whiskey, popping it open over the edge of the table, and poured herself a glass. She motioned the bottle towards Tess who just shook her head. They settled and sat around the table as an awkward silence grew between them.

 

“So…” Amaranth said, moving the mug away from his mouth. “Rielle, has your mana been…”

 

Rielle was wearing a jacket unlike the coat she usually fought in, and it covered most of her upper body although the circuits around her chest and collarbones were still visible. She sighed. “It’s typically normal although…,” she said, taking another drink of whiskey. “Although it’s been very painful to try and use it or channel any weapons. That and-”

 

“The glow,” Amaranth said. “They still glow red every now and then, huh?”

 

Rielle nodded, looking down into her glass. “More often than not, it seems. That and they’re spreading across my skin more.”

 

Tess’ eyes widened slowly. “We’ll have to look into that soon. I’m sure if we let it go than it’s not going to be good for your health.”

 

“Or our walls, apparently.” Rielle said, shrugging her shoulders. She leaned forward on the table. “Moving on… How’s your research, Amar?”

 

“I’d show you, but that’s a stack of papers taller than me so I’ll just try to sum up what I can.” Amaranth set his mug on the table and pulled out a small datapad of asuran design. “In the past few weeks tracking the Elder Dragon Zhaitan and his gloomy hoard has been pretty simple. They’re mainly floating about Orr, as they do, with the occasional scout ship heading out every couple of days. What I’m unsure of is if old Spooks the Dragon is resting or just hanging out for shits and giggles.”

 

Grenic spoke up. “I can attest to that. From what I can tell the “calling” of the undead has calmed a bit, and the Elder Dragon is mainly culling his forces around Orr. He’s been utterly unmoved since the attack on Divinity’s Reach and our guildhall. What that means though I’m unsure of.”

 

“With your attunement to necromancy would there be any way for you to get us into Orr?” Tess asked.

 

“No, and even if we could we frankly don’t have the power to just slay the dragon by ourselves.” Grenic said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We’re going to have to gather forces… Players, people, whoever-” He stopped and looked to Rielle, the others following suit.

 

Rielle remained silent for a moment, still looking into her glass. “I… I have this feeling. It’s been tearing me apart lately, like an itch or a  _ burn _ … I just can’t ignore it anymore.” Rielle quickly drank the rest of her whiskey, closing her eyes and shaking her head as she set the glass on the table hard. “I don’t think Blaze is dead.”

 

“Rielle, we all saw him…” Amaranth said, grinding his teeth together. 

 

“No, it doesn’t add up in my head.” Rielle said, crossing her arms. “There wasn’t a body, he just… burned. And there’s this feeling I have.. This  _ voice _ that’s trying to call to me.”

 

Amaranth smirked. “Oh, is it Blaze going, “Ohhh Rielle… Drink more boooooze, Rielle. Sleeeep a lot, Rielle…” or something?”

 

Rielle looked up to the sky, rocking her chair back and forth on its back legs with her arms still crossed. “No, it’s isn’t Blaze that’s haunting me. It’s… something else entirely. I have a feeling that he’s trapped somewhere, and his soul is in shackles.”

 

Grenic put his chin in his hand with his elbow resting on the table. “Well… Even if we assume that Blaze is still around,” he said, shrugging his other shoulder. “Which I guess would explain what was going on with your mana, then how do we find him?”

 

Amaranth started biting on his thumb, looking off to the side. “The axe…,” he said under his breath.

 

“I don’t know, Grenic.” Rielle said. “That’s the part we’re going to have to-”

 

Amaranth stood up quickly, almost knocking the chair over out from behind him. “The axe! It makes sense!” He ran off inside as the others just stared at each other blankly. Amaranth returned shortly with a small black box that he set in the middle of the table. “Rielle, open this.”

 

Rielle hesitated for a moment and she glared at him. “What is it?” Amaranth just nodded towards her. “Fine, I’ll open it?” Rielle said. When she placed her hand on the box, the circuits in her hand start to glow red for a moment causing her to wince at the pain slightly, before they faded back to blue. Inside the box was a dormant Destroyer Core, the heart of the creatures that lived inside of Mount Maelstrom. 

 

“So my mana reacted to the fire rock… and that tells us what, exactly?” Rielle asked him, raising her brow. 

 

Amaranth’s face lit up. “Exactly!” He took the box, closing it shut tightly. “Your mana is reacting to this core, the same way it reacted when you used Blaze’s axe before… and  _ what  _ were Blaze’s axe made of?”

 

“I have no idea, I wasn’t here…” Rielle said. “All I know is he made some axes that dripped lava and almost burned down Divinity’s Reach in the process.”

 

“Destroyer Cores!” Amaranth said, laughing. “And well.. Some other things, but most importantly he used materials he gathered in the volcano to forge them. And  _ what _ controls the Destroyers?”

 

“Primordus… the Elder Dragon of Fire…?” Tess said.

 

“Right again! Don’t you see what I’m saying?” Amaranth asked.

 

“Great.” Rielle said. “So before we kill one dragon we need to go visit another to get back Blaze. Lovely.”

 

Eventually night began to fall and they parted from Amaranth’s home, now with some idea as to their next task, as crazy as it seemed. When they made it back, Rielle and Tess each went to their respective rooms to change out of their traveling clothes. 

 

A few moments passed before Rielle got up from her bed and made herself a drink with what she had in her room. She walked out onto her balcony and looked down at the town, sipping her glass.  _ Knock... knock knock… _

 

“It’s open.” Rielle said. Tess came into her room and found her out on the balcony.

 

“I figured you wouldn’t be able to sleep right away, not with everything going on.” Tess said. 

 

Rielle took another drink from her glass, and looked up at the moon barely peeking out from behind the clouds. “It was awful Tess. I saw everyone… including myself who was struck with Nox’s blade straight through me… All of us were burning up into nothing. There was this voice and-”

 

Tess reached for the glass in Rielle’s hand, taking a sip from it and setting it down on the small table nearby. She took Rielle’s hand as she looked out to the city, squeezing it gently. “It’s ok. We’re still here, and if Blaze is out there too then we’re going to bring his ass back, ok?”

 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Rielle said, smiling.

 

Tess took Rielle’s other hand and faced her, pulled herself closer and looking into her eyes. “Besides, we’re going to do it together, protecting each other along the way.” Tess said. Their faces slowly moved closer until their lips finally met, sharing a kiss. 


	29. Spellbreaker

The hills west of the Shiverpeaks were desolate and quiet as the four of them headed north of Lion’s Arch. Soon they would reach the path that led into the mountains, far north of Hoelbrak. Traveling around to bypass as much of the frozen mountains would take longer, but was easier for such a small group. They traveled quickly and lightly, only carrying what they absolutely needed. According to what little knowledge on the Elder Dragons that Amaranth and the others could find, their clues led them to believe that Primordus, the Elder Dragon of Fire, hasn’t moved during their time spent in the new world. This led them to believe that it was still dormant in its lair, deep underground near the Eye of the North.

 

Upon deciding on their destination and the best route to take, the four of them picked up their arms once again after their short refuge. That was until they yet again encountered the cursed man that still followed them, seeking his revenge.

 

Grenic paused for a moment, halting his movement along the path. As the remaining three noticed him falling behind, they turned their attention back to him. “What is it, Grenic?” Amaranth asked.

 

“I can feel it in ground below my feet… The chill in the air.” Grenic knelt down, touching his fingers to the ground. “We’re being followed, I’m afraid.”

 

Rielle looked over Grenic’s shoulder, back across the misty valley. “He’s right,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “About 100 meters back, peeking behind that tree over there.” She held out her arm, about to conjure her bow. “Should I take him out?”

 

Tess shook her head, putting her hand out in front of her. “No, besides we talked about this. You’re not supposed to channel weapons until we get your mana sorted out unless you absolutely have to.”

 

“I’m not backing down from a fight.” Rielle replied.

 

“You won’t have to.” Tess took a few steps forward, setting down her pack and unattaching her shield. “Let them come,” she said, putting her arm through the shield straps.

 

They stood their ground, waiting for the man to approach when he realized his target was aware of his presence. He didn’t have to get very close before they realized the true identity of their stalker.

 

“Goden…” Rielle said, instinctively putting her hand over her abdomen where he had shot her.

 

Lowering the stained red hood of his cloak, Goden approached them cautiously. He had a longsword attached at his belt in plain sight, but didn’t move to draw his weapon. From the look on his face they could tell that he was alone in following them.

 

“No army to back you up this time?” Amaranth asked in a sarcastic tone as Goden got closer.

 

Rielle crossed her arms. “I’m almost offended.” She eyed him up and down. Goden stood before them, silent and stoic. “What, you plan on killing all four of us right here? Worked well the first, oh I don’t know, handfull of times you’ve tried.”

 

“He wanted you dead…” Goden said, muffled under his breath.

 

Grenic raised his brow, cupping his palm to his ear. “Sorry, didn’t catch that. If you’ve got something to say then-”

 

Goden cleared his throat loudly. “What is the cost of a _life_ , Rielle?”

 

She stayed silent for a moment, looking to the cloudy sky. “There isn’t one… but at the same time, a life will cost you everything.” Lowering her arms, Rielle looked back to Goden. “Do you blame me for his death? After everything you’ve done now in return?”

 

“It’s too late now.” Goden said calmly. “I’ve made the deal, but what I received in return... amounted to nothing.”

 

Amaranth clenched his fists. “You made a deal with Zhaitan after what he did to Nox? What the hell did you _think_ was going to happen?!”

 

Goden’s face fell as he looked to the ground. “I watched that sinister power bring my friend back as soon as he died, right before my eyes. When I left Claw Island, I had the thought that if Zhaitan could do it once and Nox still be himself if he wasn’t controlling him, then he could do it again.”

 

“Well that ended lovely.” Rielle said. “Tell me then, what did the dragon ask for in return for his life?”

 

“The same thing he wanted Nox to do to start with.” Goden said, a smirk carving its way across his face. “Zhaitan wants you dead. Nox and I swore to do just that, and I intend to pay that debt.”

 

Tess took another few steps forward, her shield-arm resting on the pommel of her sword. “I won’t give you that chance.”

 

“What, do _you_ plan to stop me?” Goden laughed. “I’ve watched you in combat, woman. Nox tossed you around like a ragdoll, and I don’t need a legendary sword to do the same.”

 

Drawing her weapon, Tess stuck the blade into the ground at her feet, resting both hands on the handle in front of her. She drew a long, sharp breath and exhaled slowly. “You took on the Guardian class when you came to this world. However, I have failed to see you protect _anyone_ at all.”

 

Goden reached for his sword, grinding his teeth from her words.

 

“Fine, then if it’s a fight you want…” Tess said, grasping her sword with one hand and pointing it towards her enemy. “Then I, Tess Bladesong, challenge you to one-on-one combat in a duel to the end.”

 

“Tess, you don’t have to…” Rielle started, but she could tell that Tess was set to ignore any pleas to let them assist.

 

“The conditions are simple.” Tess began. “We will fight in direct combat until one of us falls. If you try to flee or attack someone else, then Amaranth will drop your body through a portal and off a cliff. I assume you’re familiar with the range of his portals and the altitude they can reach, yes?”

 

Goden tightened his grip on his sword. “Whatever you say, woman. Cutting you down in this duel of yours will make things easier with your friends staying out of the way.” He took a step forward. “This isn’t a fight you can win.”

 

Tess looked back to Rielle, giving her and the others a look of confirmation. The three of them stepped back, making sure they were a safe distance away.

 

 _She has a distinctive fire in her eyes that I don’t think I’ve seen before,_ Rielle thought. _She can win this fight, surely. I know she can, but… Goden showed that he can deflect any attack, and resist any damage for a certain amount of time... Does she have something up her sleeve?_

 

The battle quickly begun as the two charged for one another, weapons raised. Tess pushed forward with her shield, pressing for an opening immediately. Goden didn’t take the bait, and halted his own attack, side-stepping to his right and lunging his sword at Tess’s left side.

 

 _Predictable,_ Tess thought, dodging his attack. She lowered her shield completely and pivoted herself on her heel, kicking Goden in the neck as she spun her body around. Using the window of him being stunned by her attack, and following her own momentum, she attacked with her sword in one fluid motion after her kick, barely missing Goden’s neck and carving it’s way across his cheek instead.

 

Goden clenched the wound, grinding his teeth again. “Not bad, woman,” he growled, spitting blood at her. “Let’s see how _you like it!_ ” Goden charged recklessly at her, completely lowering his stance and maliciously swinging his blade. He was leaving himself wide open as he attacked, but the faster and more wildly he attacked the less chances he was leaving Tess to strike.

 

Tess jumped back, steadying herself and her shield stance, catching her breath after blocking and dodging so many of Goden’s attacks. She flinched as a loud crack of lightning stuck out in the hills nearby, quickly followed by the rolling of thunder. A raindrop struck her nose, and she paused for a moment, looking up at the clouds. _...Perfect._

 

Rushing at what he thought was an open, Goden ran in for another attack. Tess parried his strike with her sword, whispering something under her breath as she jumped back again.

 

“What, cursing the rain?” Goden taunted. “Or are you cursing your inability to fight? So far you’ve gotten one single, cheap move in this entire time. I can tell you’re getting tired, woman. You can’t block my attacks forever, _wench_.”

 

Tess narrowed her eyes, whispering another few words under her breath. She held her sword tightly, her shield raised bracing herself for another attack.

 

“Fine!” Goden shouted. “You can’t block forever, but you know who can?” Goden raised his sword in the air, and a bright greenish light started radiating from his chest. He pounded his fist into his chest, enveloping himself in the magic that now swirled around his body. “ _Walking Fortress!_ ”

 

Amaranth put his hands up to his mouth to project his voice. “Tess!” he shouted. “He’ll absorb your attacks while covered by that magic! Try to wait it out!”

 

Goden growled. “Looks like you need Rielle’s plant _bitch_ to help you after all. What a shame, wench.” He threw himself forward even faster than before, lunging and striking with his sword. Tess’s shield popped and cracked each time she blocked as she tried dancing around his attacks. Her sword barely even managed to graze Goden’s body in between his ferocious attacks, if it could do any harm to him at all while he was using his ability.

 

Tess jumped back to catch her breath another time, raising her shield to cover part of her face.

 

 _What is she casting?_ Rielle thought, unable to read her lips clearly.

 

“Don’t worry Amaranth,” Tess said, lowering her shield. “I won’t have to attack him to bring him down, not directly.” _Just one more round._

 

Goden’s voice echoed as it bellowed out from his chest in agony. The taunting, the failed attempts at revenge, and the memories he still held were swelling up inside him. “  
I’ll… kill you, y-you…” He screamed as he bolted towards Tess, his sword raised high above him. The aura covering his body transferred to Goden’s sword, shining brightly with a golden sheen.

 

Charging forward herself, Tess put her entire weight behind her shield to block the attack. His sword struck, and Tess braced herself on one knee, the golden light from his attack bursting outwards as it connected.

 

Pushing herself up against Goden’s weight, Tess forced her way through his attack, knocking him back. As Goden tried to regain his footing, he began to notice the chill in the air surrounding him now that his ability had faded. There seemed to be a charge in the air, and he felt the hair on his neck stood on end.

 

Tess stepped forward, lowering both her sword and shield as she slowly approached him. “While you were going about your little rampage,” she began. “Your ability made you completely oblivious to what you felt around you. You see, I know that _Walking Fortress_ absorbs all attacks, and then doubles the output of the damage absorbed when you strike back at your enemy.”

 

Goden stepped back even farther away from her, almost slipping as he stepped back into the rainwater that had collected. He was in both a rage, and struck by an uncomfortable chill that ran up his spine. “W-what’s your point, wench? You didn’t attack, and just prolonged this battle before I kill you.”

 

Tess stared directly at him, looking into his eyes. “Do you still wish to take the life of someone who tried to save your friend?”

 

Goden remained silent.

 

“That ability of yours makes you completely numb for the duration. As you gave in to your rage, I was imbuing the mist around you.” Tess struck her sword into the water at Goden’s feet. “Every raindrop that fell… Even the moisture in the air around you… It’s all charged by my magic. A risky move against a normal opponent due to how much time and concentration that it required, but you… You rendered yourself practically blind _for_ me, as you couldn’t feel a thing.”

 

Pulling her sword from the ground, Tess turned and walked away slowly. “Channeling electricity into a spell or a weapon is done by charging the air with magic, by controlling the particles’ movements to accelerate them… But what if you use magic to slow the particles down completely?”

 

Goden began to shiver, and turned his body in an attempt to flee. His feet however remained still, as a cold frost began to cover his entire body. He looked to Tess, his breathing slowing down as the icey cold penetrated his flesh, causing his body to start to shut down.

 

Tess turned back to Goden, sheathing her sword as she watched him carefully, a magic glyph now glowing in her hand. “The temperature plummets, and everything eventually stops. You become frozen in time. Cold. Empty. Nothing can survive at _Absolute Zero_.”

 

As Tess breaks the glyph in her fist, the mist surrounding Goden collapses in on his body, freezing him solid and encasing him in a thin layer of ice as the absolute cold quickly drains away any body heat he has left. She closes her eyes, turning away from her enemy. Goden’s body begins to fall, shattering into pieces as it crashes into the ground.

 

Approaching her belongings, Tess reattaches her shield to the bag and throws it onto her back. “We should keep moving,” she says, avoiding to make eye contact as she approached the group.

 

Grenic picks his jaw up from the ground. “Remind me not to ever piss her off.”

 

Tess stopped, still looking ahead at the path in front of her. “That man caused the death of so many others, and inflicted so much pain on us. I understand all too well that he was full of his own despair, even to the point where he would betray us all, but…” She looked back to Rielle, stepping closer to her and grabbing her hand tightly. “I want to protect those important to me. I will not fail a second time.”


	30. Resting in the Flames

“Why is it that we always find ourselves freezing in some deep dark cave?” Amaranth asked as he pulled his cloak closed tighter.

 

“My life is a deep dark cave.” Rielle said. Tess smacked Rielle’s arm, rolling her eyes.

 

“Well, you won’t be cold for very much longer,” Grenic replied. “There’s hot air pouring from this next opening here.” He held the torch forward in front of them as he looked down into the cavern opening.

 

“We’re getting closer.” Tess said, taking the first step to whatever awaited them below.

 

In days long past, the Norns of the Shiverpeak mountains lived in a large city named the  _ Eye of the North _ . Once the Elder Dragons had awakened however, Jormag, the Elder Dragon of Ice, claimed the land as his own and forced the townsfolk out. It’s corruption spread quickly, as the winter came as cold and fierce as a newly forged blade. From what researchers believe however, Jormag was unaware of the presence of one of it’s kin deep within the caverns below. Miles of caverns spread underneath the mountains, all of which lead to one destination: Primordus’s lair. 

 

Amaranth checked his pocket watch, taking note that another hour of their tunneling adventure had passed. The cavern had gotten significantly warmer on their way through. “Follow the heat, the books said.” Amaranth said as he removed his coat and stuffed it into his pack. The walls of the cave had a reddish tint, with small shards of different ores and obsidian glass peering out of the stone.

 

“Blaze would have a hayday down here.” Rielle said. She ran her hand across the wall, feeling the warmth coming from the stone. Steam rose from the ground beneath them every minute or so as they continued downwards.

 

“You’re right.” Amaranth replied. “There’s a ton of evidence of Destroyers down here. I think it’s only a matter of time before-” The rock beneath his foot crumbled as he stepped, cracking the floor ahead of him as a small hole about a meter wide opened up into a pit of molten lava below. Rielle grabbed him by his pack, pulling him back onto safer ground.

 

“That… could have been bad.” Rielle said, letting go of Amaranth as he regained his footing. 

 

Amaranth brushed off his vest and pulled on his sleeves, letting out a heavy breath. “I-I almost just met up with Blaze a lot sooner than expected there,” he said with an awkward laugh.

 

“Let’s mind our footing, yeah?” Tess said with a sigh of relief. “I think the tunnel up ahead leads to a larger chamber. The heat is getting pretty intense up here.”

 

It wasn’t long before the light coming from deep within grew brighter and brighter. The tunnel opened up into a massive chamber that went on for miles in all directions with a sea of lava at the bottom. In the heart of the chamber was an immense dragon that looked to be made of black stone, with rivers of molten lava flowing across and through its body. It was none other than Primordus itself, in a deep slumber as its body remained motionless in the vast sea of lava.

 

Their path ended with a long stone cliff that reached over the flames and lava far below. Sat on the edge of the cliff, possibly looking over the great beast itself, was a woman with long black hair. She looked to be about the same age as Rielle, and wore a sheer white robe with gold accents, with long sleeves attached to golden rings around her upper arms separate from the robe itself. They could see glowing markings all over the woman’s body that emitted a bright red coloured aura, fading in and out as she breathed calmly.

 

As the approached the woman in white stood from the edge of the cliff and turned to face them. She spoke in a deep but calm and soft voice. “Welcome, Rielle of Azure,” she said bowing her head.

 

Rielle stepped forward, feeling an odd sense of familiarity with the woman before her. “Thank you,” she said as she copied the woman’s gesture. “May I ask your name?”

 

The woman smiled softly. “Ah yes, it is only fair since I know yours. I am Khali of Primordus.”

 

Tess and the others reached for their weapons, but Rielle remained still.

 

“Please, I mean no harm to you or your friends.” Khali replied. “I am but a priest, not a knight such as yourself. The only defense I have are the Destroyers here that protect my master.”

 

“We didn’t see any Destroyers on our way in.” Amaranth said, resting his hand on the end of his rapier. “Only evidence that they had been here.”

 

Khali tilted her head as she spoke. “The Destroyers are busy creatures I’m afraid. They only return to this main chamber when I call them.” She stepped closer to Rielle, holding out her hand. “So answer me this, Rielle of Azure. Why has a knight come to the lair of the Elder Dragon Primordus, when she clearly resonates with another dragon entirely? Does she mean this as an act of war? No…” Khali paused for a moment, looking into Rielle’s eyes as she still held out her hand. “There is something more.”

 

Rielle looked back to the group, giving them a reassuring nod. She stepped forward and placed her hand in Khali’s. Rielle’s arm pulsed bright red as their hands met. The colour was similar to the markings that glowed across Khali’s body, but still somehow different. It moved rapidly through Rielle’s mana circuits as it seemed more… violent as it reacted to their contact.

 

“Oh I see, dear girl.” Khali said, removing her hand. The gentle smile vanished from her face, replaced by a look of both concern and fear. “Your power has been tainted…  _ Corrupted _ by a being other than a dragon.”

 

Rielle shook her head slowly. “What… What does that mean? How could mana become corrupted?”

 

“Magic or mana,” Khali began. “Can be found in all living beings, the Dragons, and even the world itself. However this strange power… This unwanted force comes from somewhere completely different from our world entirely, and it seems to have a will of it’s own.”

 

Khali stepped back, slowly shaking her head. “I cannot help you I’m afraid. You must learn to repel this unwanted magic that has tainted your mana, or else I believe it will consume you completely.”

 

Rielle crossed her arms and looked to the ground. “Then may I ask you another question?” Khali nodded in response. Rielle’s head rose and she set her pack on the ground, pulling out the enchanted black case that held Blaze’s axe within. She opened it carefully, and held it out in front of her. “What do you know of the Lord of the Blaze?”

 

Khali’s body visibly tensed at the sight of the axe. “I have heard only whispers, as I have not left my master’s lair in many years. The Destroyers… they have said this name among themselves before. Some of them call him  _ friend _ , however the other… more sentient ones, they fear him more than I can imagine.”

 

“So do you- or the Destroyers… Do they know where we can find him?” Tess asked. Rielle closed the case, putting it back into her pack. 

 

“No, the whispers of him stopped a while ago.” Khali answered, relaxing slightly. “I assumed it was due to his demise.”

 

“That’s not good enough!” Rielle snapped at her. “I… I know he’s out there, I can feel it.”

 

Khali’s eyes narrowed. “The corruption inside of you… It came from that axe? It came from him, didn’t it?”

 

Rielle’s body shook as anguish and desperation swelled up inside her. A bright bolt of mana quickly shot through her arm as she materialized Azure Edge, pointing the black blade at Khali. “I  _ know _ he’s still alive, now tell me what you know!”

 

Tess placed her hand on Rielle’s shoulder. “Rielle… Please.” Rielle slowly lowered the blade, still keeping a firm grip on the handle.

 

Khali, still shaken as she couldn’t take her eyes off of the weapon, fell slowly to her knees as tears swelled up in her eyes. “I- I can tell you one thing… It’s all I know, I swear to you!”

 

Rielle’s arm twitched, and her weapon vanished back into a cloud of energy that quickly dissipated. “I’m sorry, I…”

 

“I- I know… I can understand why.” Khali replied, her voice still shaken as she tried to stand again. “Someone that could wield that kind of power wouldn’t simply pass through the land of the dead after they had passed on. All… All power comes with a price, and since this corruption has spread to you instead, I don’t believe that price was paid in full.”

 

Khali traced a glyph in the air, and from the font of fire that spawned from it appeared an old scroll. “This is a map of the Mists, however useless something like that sounds like it would be. The Mists are constantly changing, a realm between realms that is always evolving.” She handed the scroll to Rielle. “I believe… you’ve been there once before.”

 

“The dungeon we fought in a month or so after the world changed,” Amaranth began to ask. “The was a world within the Mists?”

 

Khali simply nodded.

 

“So this scroll, it’ll take us to where you believe he is?” Tess asked.

 

“I can think of no other place. Once you find yourself a portal to the Mists, this map will guide you to the Fissure of Woe.” Khali said.

 

Rielle paused. “Wait- Why does that sound so familiar?”

 

Khali nodded to her once more. “Take this and go,” she said. “Now please… Do not return.”

 

The journey back to the surface was a much easier one, as a tunnel straight to the surface looked like it had been freshly dug by a group of Destroyers.

 

“Looks like she really wanted us out of there.” Grenic said.

 

“Well wouldn’t you too?” Amaranth asked. “It’s not every day a group of people, armed to the teeth, show up in your Scary Lava Lair and threaten your life with a flaming sword.”

 

“Well when you put it that way…”

 

“We need to get to Divinity’s Reach.” Rielle said abruptly.

 

“Their Ley Line network was still down when we left.” Tess replied, scratching her head. “Why?”   
  


“The Queen should know how to get into the Mists, and besides I think she still owes us a favor for dealing with the attack.” Rielle said.

 

Amaranth took out his pocket watch, quickly catching a glance before closing it shut tightly again. “We won’t make it far before nightfall. We’re going to need to make camp.”

 

Rielle took a few steps forward, pulling her pack tightly against her back. “Then we find a place to make camp. Tomorrow we’ll travel as fast as we can to the nearest waypoint, take it to Lion’s Arch, and use the Asura Gate there to Divinity.”


	31. The Shining Queen

“It looks like she’ll meet with us within the hour.” Grenic said, joining them at the table. “I almost couldn’t find you tucked away back here.”

 

“Luckily Rielle knows the owner of this pub, or else I doubt we would have gotten the fancy VIP area dressed like this.” Amaranth said. He looked to Rielle. “You think the cloaks are necessary after we fought for this city?”

 

“I think that’s precisely why she wants us to remain hidden, Amaranth.” Tess replied.

 

Rielle gave him a nod as she sipped her drink. “I also just like coming here. It’s the only place you can find Southsun rum between the five major cities, and thank the gods the owner survived the attack.”

 

Tess took a sip of Rielle’s drink. “Oh, what was his name again?”

 

“Steve.” Rielle said, stealing her drink back. “He’s a good guy.”

 

It wasn’t long before a messenger of none other than the queen herself found them next. The four of them slammed back their drinks, almost in unison, and the followed the messenger outside. “Here.” Rielle said, handing Steve a moderately sized bag of coins on her way out. “Not sure when I’ll get a chance to come back, but hold on to a couple bottles for me, ya?”

 

Steve smiled warmly. “Anythin’ for you, lass. Do come back safe now.”

 

Rielle shrugged as she waved back at him, returning a smile. “I make no promises.”

 

Hammering and chatter resonated throughout the city. The people were hard at work on the repairs of both their homes and their lives. The gates were heavily guarded with the surviving soldiers of the attack, and new volunteers of all the major races. Their homes were attacked once, and they would not stand idly by and let their homes be attacked again.

 

The messenger led them passed the guards and into the castle. Images of their battle flashed through Rielle’s mind, and for a brief moment she saw the aftermath all over again.

 

“Hey… Are you ok?” Tess asked her in a whisper.

 

“Yeah, I- ...Yeah, I’m fine.” Rielle replied. She put her hands in her pockets, retreating into her long black coat. “Let’s go meet this queen.”

 

The grand hall was quiet, with only two heavily armed guards on either side of the queen. The queen herself sat on the edge of her seat, her hand resting on a sword that sat atop one of the arms of the throne. She seemed relaxed, but paid particular attention to every single one of their movements.

 

The messenger stepped forward from the group, and turned to bow with her arm held out to the queen. “Your Grace, I bring to you the-”

 

“The fabled guild the Eternal Dragonborn. Yes, I thank you. You may go.” The queen said, her messenger quickly ducking away. The four of them bowed as the queen stood from her throne. “I have had 17 meetings identical to this one already this week. Although your attire does seem closer to the description matching the members of the guild, I do hope that this attempt is a good one.”

 

Amaranth looked to Grenic, his brow raised as he bit his lip. “I- Ummm…”

 

The queen groaned as she dropped her shoulders. “Come now, you do have some proof that you’re them, don’t you? I don’t have all day, and-”

 

Rielle stepped forward, unbuttoning and dropping her cloak off of one shoulder. As mana pulsed through her arm sparks of energy arced across her skin. The queen’s eyes widened in response. Rielle pulled her cloak closed again and cleared her throat.

 

“I am Rielle Dragonborn, Knight of Azure, and this is my guild. Here with me is Amaranth Rosewood, Tess Bladesong, and Grenic Thele.” Rielle kneeled before her, and the others followed. “We come seeking entry into the Mists in hopes that we may find our missing comrade so that we may once and for all defeat the Elder Dragon Zhaitan.”

 

“Rise, Eternal Dragonborn.” The queen said as she stepped down to them. “I must offer you my most humble apology in regards to your identity. I wish to offer you refuge here in the palace if you so desire.”

 

“Thank you, your Grace.” Rielle said and the four of them stood.

 

The queen sighed. “Alright, enough of these pleasantries,” she said in a bit harsher tone. “You want to get to the Mists then, eh? Oh boy, that’s gonna be a tough one.”

 

“I, err… Your Grace, um-” Amaranth began.

 

“Please, call me Jennah. It’s easier that way.” Jennah said.

 

“Right, Queen Jennah. In regards to getting to the Mists.” Amaranth said, pulling out his notebook. “We believe that you may be able to point us in the direction of a-”

 

“A bloodstone?” Jennah interrupted. “I take it you believe that since no portal to the mists currently exists, you’re going to use a bloodstone to tear one open?”

 

“Exactly.” Grenic said, stepping forward. “There is a certain connection between the bloodstones and the Mists, as I figure you know. The Gods came here from the Mists, and then sealed away magic within the bloodstones to keep Tyria safe.”

 

Jennah rubbed her chin as she looked away. “Well there’s a couple of things wrong with that statement, but for the sake of time and since it’s almost impossible to prove we’ll move on from that.”

 

“Yes, our history is a tad muddled due to what happened in the past versus what we think we know, don’t you think?” Amaranth asked.

 

“That it is.” Jennah agreed. “Well I can say that I know this. There _is_ a bloodstone that I can lead you to, although I’m not sure how well you can navigate the Mists if it turns out it can take you there.

 

“Oh don’t worry, we have a map.” Tess said eagerly.

 

“Right....” Jennah said. “That being said I’ll see to it that the Kingdom of Kryta gives you it’s full support in the matter, even if it just so happens that the person you’re trying to find burned down and nearly destroyed the entire public crafting district in the past.”

 

“We did make him stay and fix it.” Amaranth replied, scratching the back of his head.

 

“Then I’ll have someone show you to your rooms upstairs.” Jennah said.

 

“One more thing, if I may.” Rielle began, stepping closer to the queen. “Do you remember who you were before the world changed?”

 

Jennah froze for a moment, her gaze drifting off as she looked towards the ceiling. “I do, in fact. However I took this role as queen the moment I got here, almost as if I didn’t have a choice. The most strange and terrifying thing about it is that it’s almost as if I was supposed to do this all along. As if I’ve lived it already in a past life.”

 

Rielle held out her hand. “That’s all I needed to know.”

 

Jennah took her hand. “There’s one other thing. You will have the forces that were owed to the previous Pact Commander to aid your fight against Zhaitan.”

 

“But, there _isn’t_ a Pact Commander, or even a Pact.” Rielle said.

 

“There was before.” The queen replied.

 

As the sun began to set the city grew quieter. Lights flickered through the windows of the homes and taverns and fires for those still without homes could be seen near tents in the fields. Tess stood out on the balcony of her and Rielle’s guest room of the palace.

 

“I mean, the room is beautiful and all…” Rielle said as she came out to join her.

 

“Buuut?” Tess asked with a smile on her face as she wove her fingers around Rielle’s.

 

Rielle grasped her hand tightly. “But it’s a bit much, don’t you think?”

 

“Aww, are gold-trimmed bed sheets too fancy? That bed does look very comfortable.” Tess said, blushing furiously.

 

“We’ll get some rest later, don’t worry.” Rielle said. “There’s somewhere I want to take you tonight.”

 

Rielle led them back into the room, and pulled a small crystal from her pocket. It glowed with a faint bluish green tone in her hand. She held the crystal upwards, pulling her arm around Tess’s shoulder. Within a flash their scenery changed and they found themselves on a long beach. Near them were two barren shacks and a few palm trees, and up on a nearby hill was an empty unlit lighthouse that looked out to sea.

 

“I found this place when I was out on my journey to find the dragon I was connected to.” Rielle said, taking a few steps towards the water. “When I got back I couldn’t find it on any maps or anything, so… I guess it was lost to time after a while.”

 

“It’s so peaceful here.” Tess replied, joining Rielle by her side. “It’s beautiful.”

 

“It could be… Maybe a place to rebuild once all of this is over.” Rielle said.

 

Tess wrapped her arms around Rielle’s waist, holding her from behind. “And what would you name this place if we did?”

 

Rielle smiled. “Well, given my history with names… I’d call it _Azure Bay_.”

 

Tess giggled softly. “Named after her, like your sword is?”

 

Rielle held Tess’s hands on her waist. “Weapons’ names only have value to the person who wields them typically. In the end, the name of a sword won’t matter to anyone. I want the world to remember that she helped us… Or something like that.”

 

“Do you want to stay here for a little while?” Tess asked.

 

“Yeah, I’d like that. We can watch the stars together before it gets too cold and then head back.” Rielle replied, facing her. She brushed the hair out of Tess’s face and smiled softly.

 

“And we’ll have those fresh gold-trimmed bed sheets and a glass of the best ale in the palace just waiting for us!”


	32. Ring of Fire

There was a knock at the door. Rielle found herself in a dark hallway, the walls etched with the same circuit-like markings in her skin. _Who… Who’s there?_ Nobody answered her call, but the knocking continued. She stepped forward and as her foot met the cold black floor, the circuits on the walls flooded the room with a bright red colour. Rielle stared down the long hall as the light filled the passage before her.

 

There was a knock at the door. _Show yourself!_ Rielle started running towards the end of the passage, but before she reached the door it burst into flames. She shielded her eyes from the blinding light, still pushing forward towards the door. The heat of the flames caused her body to sweat as she approached. Rielle grabbed the red-hot doorknob, hissing at the pain as it seared her hand. She pulled the door open with as much strength as she could muster.

 

Flames flooded the passage, searing Rielle’s flesh as she continued to scream. There was still a knock at the door.

 

Rielle shook herself awake, her body covered in sweat.

 

“Hey…” Tess said softly as she woke beside her. “Another bad dream?”

 

Rielle dropped her shoulders, her body still shaking slightly as she tried to catch her breath. She took Tess’s hand. “T-this… This needs to stop. I don’t have time to be haunted by these nightmares, honestly.”

 

Tess kissed Rielle’s shoulder. “We’re closer than ever. It’ll be over soon.”

 

“Will it?” Rielle said, her voice cracking. She let out a heavy sigh and looked away.

 

“It’s ok, truly.” Tess tightened her hand around Rielle’s, rubbing her back with her other. “We just have to… to keep moving forward, right?”

 

Rielle nodded in response. “Yeah. I… I’m sorry, Tess.”

 

“Don’t be. Today’s the day, Rielle.” Tess motioned towards the washroom. “Go get yourself ready and I’ll see if the others are awake. The sooner we get started the better.” She wrapped her arms around Rielle’s shoulders, hugging her before getting up herself. “Oh, and I’ll make the coffee. Sound good?”

 

Rielle let out another long sigh, but this time sounding much more relieved. “I knew I liked you.”

 

Tess simply grinned as she slipped on a white robe, waving in front of her to bring up a _Contacts_ list. “Amaranth, you there? Ah, already awake I see. Good, we’ll be down in a few. Are the Queen’s guard ready? What, an entire team of mages and technicians? And the- ...Oh this should be good. Alright, see you soon.”

 

“An entire team of mages and technicians?” Rielle asked. “What is the Queen planning?”

 

“We’ll meet them down the hall from the throne room soon enough. It seems like the trip to finding a bloodstone will be much faster than we thought.”

 

Less than an hour later they met up with Amaranth and Grenic downstairs. Rielle opted for her usual lack of armour, wearing instead a low-cut top with her trademark black coat, missing the sleeves that she ripped off back on Claw Island. Tess was donned in a dark grey scalemail, with a long fauld that went around her hips.

 

“There you two are.” Amaranth said as he approached them from the doorway. “They’re ready for us, I think.”

 

“Looks like that blacksmithy came through for you, Tess.” Grenic remarked.

 

On her back was a freshly forged orichalcum shield, replacing the one broken in the very same hall nearby during the attack on Divinity’s Reach. “Delivered just this morning.” Tess replied. “The note said it was flexible, yet sturdy. Let’s just hope none of the Dragon’s minions have a legendary sword this time.”

 

“Ah, that reminds me. We should go over the plan, right Rielle?” Grenic asked.

 

“Right, let’s see what Queeny is up to then.” Rielle responded.

 

Amaranth led them into a large room with a tall ceiling. Scattered about were numerous machines, magical tomes stacked multiple feet high, and a table covered in computer monitors and alchemical apparatuses. In the middle of the room stood a massive, unstable looking Asura Gate that flickered an ominous red aura whenever someone walked passed.

 

A female asura wearing thick brightly coloured cyan glasses hopped off of a stack of books she was sitting on in front of one of the monitors. “Ah, finally. By the Eternal Alchemy you four took your time sleeping in and getting down here. Do you know what time it is?” She pushed up her glasses with one of her claws. “I’ve- I mean _we’ve_ been working on this gate since nearly three in the morning hoping to get this thing running. Your Queen is quite pushy by the way.”

 

Rielle crossed her arms. “Gate? Wait, are we-”

 

“Of course you are.” The asura interrupted. “You wanted to get to a bloodstone, correct? Well it turns out your Queen knows exactly where one is and since we all would like for you to get there before a certain Elder Dragon of death decided to attempt another raid on a city, this is the quickest way there.”

 

“Precisely,” Jennah said as she entered behind them. “The bloodstone we’re sending you to is at the chain of volcanic islands known as the Ring of Fire.”

 

“Of course it is.” Amaranth groaned. “And at least half of us are wearing black.”

 

Grenic awkwardly took off his heavy black cloak, setting it on one of the chairs nearby. “Won't be needing that I suppose.”

 

“We got it!” A young man on the other side of the room shouted. The asura dashed back to her book stack. “You’ve set concrete coordinates!?”

 

“Yes, Lani!” The young man replied ecstatically. “As soon as the calibrations are complete the portal will be ready for the DRGN to pass through.” He hopped from his seat, almost tripping, and approached Rielle and the others. “Here, take this anchor. It’s Lani’s design, and can connect you to the leyline network once you’re in the Ring of Fire. It can’t do a thing once you get to the Mists however...”

 

Rielle took the crystal from him, handing it to Grenic. “Thanks, Mr…?”

 

“Lawrence, miss Rielle!” The boy said, nervously scratching the back of his head.

 

“Mr. Lawrence,” she hesitantly replied.

 

“No, umm… Beathowl. Lawrence Beathowl! It’s a pleasure to meet you and your friends! Umm, I need to- I’ll be just over here now. Thanks! Sorry!” Lawrence said, hurrying back to his station.

 

Behind them a man dressed in grey and purple mage robes entered the room, his cane hitting the door frame with a loud _crack!_ They quickly turned to face him. “Ohhh my apologies. They don’t make these blasted doors wide enough anymore. Or perhaps It’s me that’s getting wider? Or older. Don’t get old, kids. I don’t recommend, honestly.”

 

“It’s you, that old man from the Priory.” Amaranth said.

 

“Ah yes, it’s me. Finally got out of that dusty basement, I did.” The old man replied, limping against his cane over to Rielle and the others. “And you… must the Dragon Knight Rielle.”

 

“How did you…?” Rielle asked.

 

“We’re of similar blood, you and I.” The old man said, hobbling over to a nearby bench. “Why do you think Zhaitan is so fearful of you? Oh what it would be like if the other dragons were awake, I wonder.”

 

Rielle approached him, holding out her hand. The old man took hers, and a small etching of the sun glowed on the back of his hand before quickly fading away. “You see Rielle? You have the Aspect, the connection to a dragon, whereas I do not. Well, I no longer do for that matter.”

 

Taking a step back, Rielle bowed to the old man. “Please, tell me what happened to your dragon.”

 

The old man chuckled, leaning back on the bench and hitting his head on the wall. “Ow ow ow, that was less than fun... “ He held the back of his head, “It’s simple Rielle, I’m an old man. People die. Dragons die. We all get old and pass on and new dragons and their companions take our places. I’ve been around for a very, very long time. From the time that the world lacked magic and was full of technology, and before that when the world was like the way it is now.”

 

Amaranth’s face lit up. “You are from before our age then! The age without magic! You… You could rewrite the history books. You could-”

 

“Ahh, hold on there young lad.” The man waved his hands in front of him. “Didn’t I just say I was old? There might be time for that later, maybe not. Maybe I’ll write a book or something, but for now I just wanted to meet you is all.”

 

Rielle placed her fist against her chest. “The honor is all mine, Sir.”

 

“Aye, you don’t have to be so formal now. I haven’t been a Knight for centuries.” The old man said, hobbling back onto his cane as he headed for the door. “She would have been proud, lady Rielle.”

 

“Thank you,” she replied softly.

 

Lani jumped from her pile of books again, hurrying back over to them. “Alright, Lawrence’s calibrations are set and we’re ready to go then.”

 

The four of them approached the Asura Gate. It’s franticly vibrating red aura had stabilized into a solid purplish glow. They could feel a wave of heat emitting from the gate now, proving that it’s destination was none other than the Ring of Fire.

 

“Shall we then?” Rielle asked, looking to the rest of her guild.

 

“Ladies first.” Amaranth replied with a huge grin on his face.

 

Tess pushed on Amaranth’s shoulders from behind. “Then let’s get a move on then!”

 

Rielle helped push him through the gate. “For the DRGN!” She said, and the others repeated the chant along with her.

 

As soon as they appeared through the other side of the gate, they were met by the warm hard ground. Tess and Rielle fell on Amaranth, with Grenic closely nearby. Rielle turned to look above them as the purple tinted portal swirled into itself and disappeared.

 

“Good thing they gave us the anchor, huh?” Grenic said.

 

Amaranth brushed the girls off of him and stood, proceeding to brush the ash off of his waistcoat. “By the Gods, that Beathowl kid couldn’t have set his coordinates so that we would come through the gate _upright_ or something?”

 

Rielle stood and helped Tess to her feet. “Hey, he seems like a good lad.” Amaranth shrugged his shoulders in response.

 

“This is it, isn’t it?” Grenic said to himself. “I can pretty much feel the magic within, crawling against my skin as it seeps through the cracks in the bloodstone.”

 

Amaranth looked to Rielle. “Remember that thing Blaze said about necromancers? That was creepy.”

 

Rielle rolled her eyes at him. “Alright Grenic, what first? We sort of know where to go but we don’t know how.”

 

“Well since we didn’t get a chance to go over the plan,” Grenic said, setting his staff on the ground and unhooking a locked tome from his belt. “I’m going to start the ritual that would normally bring souls from the Mists for me to use to command undead minions. However, once the ritual has started, you’re going to use Blaze’s mana and send it into the bloodstone. This should cause a chain reaction, and since the origin of his mana should be related to where he currently is, the portal to the Mists _should_ take us there.”

 

“Say ‘should’ again.” Amaranth responded.

 

“And you _should_ still be alive when you get to the other side.” Grenic said cheerfully.

 

“Point taken,” he replied.

 

Rielle stepped forward onto the bloodstone. It was a massive grey slab with red coloured runes strewn across its surface. “Alright everyone, hop on. Grenic, I’m ready when you are.” As she approached the center of the bloodstone, she removed the only thing from inside her pack and tossed the bag aside. It was the enchanted locked case that held Blaze’s molten axe within. Rielle pressed her thumb print into the lock and with a _click_ it opened.

 

“This is it, everyone.” Rielle said, taking Blaze’s axe in hand. Molten lava dripped from its edge and her mana circuits pulsed bright red. “I want everyone on their guard once we get through. The Mists are unpredictable, and there’s no telling who or what we’ll face once we get there.”

 

Tess tightened the straps on her shield against her forearm. “We’ll go wherever you lead, Rielle.” Amaranth nodded in agreement.

 

Grenic unsheathed the dagger from his belt and held the blade to his palm. “I’m starting the ritual now. Here we go!” Blood seeped onto the tome that laid against the surface of the bloodstone, smoke rising from it’s pages as it hissed. The ground shook violently beneath them as the bloodstone cracked, light pouring from the openings. “Rielle, now!”

 

Rielle cried out, bring the axes well above her head. With all her strength she swung the axe and pummeled it into the bloodstone. With her hand still on the axe, her mana circuits charged and radiated with the same red light, more blinding than ever before. Flames shot out from the cracks in the bloodstone made by the axe, whipping and striking at her feet.

 

“You can do it, Rielle!” Tess shouted to her. “Forget whoever’s power it was before! Make it yours and send it into the bloodstone!”

 

As the flames danced around Rielle, above them it looked as if a hole was being burned into the sky itself. The tear grew larger as it moved closer and closer until it was just above them and the bloodstone.

 

 _This pain. It feels like I’m being burnt alive from the inside out._ Rielle screamed as she struggled to keep hold of the axe, her arm still burning with the red mana, and the axe began to crack. _But no more… I won’t be afraid any longer._

 

A dark and gravelly voice resonated in her head. _You will fear my power. You will fear the day I step into your pathetic mortal realm._

 

Rielle closed her eyes, and in her mind she saw the source of who haunted her dreams. In her mind she saw a figure in full armour with flames falling from his body.

 

 _No._ She thought. _I will continue to fight, and you will learn to fear_ my _own power._ Rielle opened her eyes returning her focus to the axe in her hands. Suddenly, the mana circuits on her chest resonated with blue light that pulsed down her arm. The blue mana pushed through along her skin, destroying the corrupted mana in its path. With one final pulse, Rielle discharged the last remnants of Blaze’s mana from her body and into the bloodstone.

 

Blaze’s axe crumbled with a burst of flames and the tear in the sky above them reacted to its power. Mana from the bloodstone shot up into the tear and pulled it into itself, collapsing in on Rielle and the others as it fell and disappeared.

 

Unsure of how long they were unconscious, Rielle pushed herself back onto her feet. Before her was a long concrete road, cracked and torn as if it hadn’t seen any maintenance for years. Trees lined the road, barren and long dead husks of what they once were. Down the old road from where she stood she could see a small town. Its buildings seemed like they had been abandoned long ago.

 

Rielle turned towards her comrades who were also trying to regain both consciousness and a grasp on their surroundings. Behind them and down the other end of the road, passed the hills and fields of dead trees, Rielle saw the abandoned city that they once fought in out in the distance.

 

“That’s-” Amaranth rubbed his eyes. “But we’re in the Mists? Was that dungeon we finished apart of the Mists?”

 

“It must be, but there’s no time to worry about that now.” Rielle replied. She unfolded the map given to her by the priestess. “That city would take hours to walk to.”

 

“It seems like the bloodstone spit us out near this town for a reason.” Tess began. “Look, some of the buildings are burning and you can see the smoke from here.”

 

“But where’s Grenic?” Amaranth asked. “Did he get left behind, or…?”

 

Rielle rolled the map again, putting it away in her coat pocket. “I’m sure he’s ok. He must have just been out of range of the portal.”

 

“So it’s just the three of us then?” Tess asked. She pulled on the straps of her shield, tightening them.

 

“Hopefully it’ll be four soon.” Rielle said. She led them down the old road towards the town. It wasn’t long before they met the abandoned town’s gates. The smell of ash and smoke was thick in the air, and whatever flammable remains of the surrounding buildings were slowly burning. The charred remains of unrecognizable creatures were scattered about as if a battle had just occurred. However, whoever was victorious was yet to be seen.

 

As they walked through the remnants of the town, a large mansion up on a hill surrounded by trees came into view. The iron gate was unhinged and layed open, and ashy footprints led up its path.

 

“These prints seem fresh.” Tess noted, kneeling down to examine them more closely. “I think whoever won this battle has been living here.”

 

“Well with everything still burning I think it’s evident that Blaze must have been here.” Amaranth said.

 

Rielle started up the path. “Or perhaps something far worse.”

 

The mansion had definitely seen better days. The windows had been boarded up long ago and it seemed that nature had retaken this piece of land over the years. There was a dead electrical line hanging against nearby branches, disconnected from the house long ago. It sparked occasionally, just out of reach of the tree itself as it swayed. Amaranth wondered how it could still have power running through it even though they were currently in the Mists, where no man made power plants should be.

 

Tess took point, pressing her shield against the opening of the door as she pushed it open. The mansion remained still and unresponsive, the only sound coming from the door hinges themselves. “There’s nobody here, it looks like.”

 

“Let’s take a look around at least.” Amaranth noted, following her inside. Rielle shut the door behind them as she entered last.

 

“There has to be a reason for the footprints, and this being the only building we could find _not_ set ablaze.” Rielle said. She glanced around the foyer, noticing a large painting hanging from the stairs. In the painting was an older man standing next to his daughter, both dressed in very noble looking attire.

 

“Do you think there’s a ward here protecting the house, Amar?” Rielle asked.

 

Amaranth glanced behind the main staircase. “If there was…,” he said, pushing some crates aside revealing a doorway under the stairs. “It would be in the basement. That noble probably wouldn’t want his daughter playing around some magical apparatus would he?”

 

He led the three of them down the spiral stone staircase and into the basement. There were enough cobwebs strung about that they almost thought it was a spider lair. At the base of the staircase the hall opened up into a long room filled with bookcases and a long table covered in alchemical ingredients.

 

“Looks like the Queen’s research team’s lab, just about.” Tess noted. She poked at what was probably a human heart at some point on the table, only to find it crumble to dust before her eyes. She quickly stepped away, her hands behind her back as if she hadn’t touched anything.

 

“Well this seems like a bust.” Rielle said. She walked down to the end of the laboratory, kneeling down next to an old fireplace.

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Amaranth said, running his gloved hand along a shelf full of books nearby. “I can sense the ward behind this bookcase… And there’s something else hidden behind here as well. Look at the lack of dust on these books. It’s been moved recently.”

 

Amaranth ran his finger against a book with obvious indentions on its binding, pulling on it until he heard a _click._ The entire section of bookcase in front of him shifted, sliding backwards and then to its side, revealing a passage behind it.

 

“Seeeecret tunnel!” Amaranth chimed. “I think this is- Oh… Rielle, you need to come quickly.”

 

Rielle rushed to his side and peered into the tunnel. It led into a small room with very little but a couple wooden crates and a coffin inside. The coffin lid was hung open, and inside was the still body of Blaze himself.

 

“That’s…” Rielle stood frozen in place, her hand covering her mouth. “That’s not right. Surely something’s wrong. Amar, we need to-”

 

With a loud _CRASH_ from outside, the entire room shook. Books fell from the shelves around them and pieces of the ceiling began to fall. From the staircase they heard the echoing sounds of the roars of multiple dragons coming from outside.

 

“We need to leave, Rielle!” Tess exclaimed, grabbing Rielle’s arm. “Now!”

 

The three of them ran up the stairs as quickly as they could, leaving Blaze’s body where it laid. The ground continued to shake as they hurried towards the mansion’s entrance.

 

Outside, they found the horrid sources of the bellowing cries. Circling overhead were three dragons made of shadow, all massive in size. Sparks flew across Rielle’s arm as her sword Azure Edge appeared in her hand, bursting into blue flames.

 

“I don’t have time FOR YOU.” Rielle screamed at the dragons. She launched from the ground and into the air, propelling herself straight at them. The largest of the shadow dragons dove straight for her. She held her blade forward, the blue flames carving a path through the air in front of her. The dragon opened its maw as wide as it could, but as it met the end of Rielle’s blade it dissolved into the same black mist from once it came.

 

Rielle landed near the middle of the town, striking her blade into the ground. “Face me, you cowards!” The remaining dragons hovering above them followed suit, and the three masses of dark energy gathered near her on land, forming three figures wearing jet black armour.

 

“The hunger…,” the armoured figures spoke in unison. “It yearns… It consumes all…”

 

“Yeah, yeah. I _get_ it, assholes!” Rielle spat, taking her sword from the ground, it’s blade bursting into blue flames once more. “Now tell me where-”

 

Pounding, earth shattering footsteps echoed behind her. The shadowy figures drew their blades, backing slowly from Rielle and the source of the footsteps. Tess and Amaranth joined her at the center of town, weapons in hand, halting as soon as they saw the massive entity behind Rielle.

 

Rielle turned slowly, almost blinded by the light coming from the flames. A gigantic sentient effigy, made of dark steel bones surrounded only by fire itself, came forward towards Rielle and her enemy. It raised its massive flaming battle axe high into the air, letting out a war cry that was so loud it felt like it carved their very eardrums in two.

 

Dashing out of range, Rielle pushed from the ground and flipped herself towards her comrades, landing on her feet near Tess and Amaranth. The hulking flame effigy completely ignored this gesture, and continued its charge at the shadowy figures.

 

“It’s- It’s attacking them!” Amaranth shouted.

 

“Yeah, but how do we know it won't attack us too?” Tess replied sarcastically.

 

“For now we treat it as an ally!” Rielle commanded. “We’re taking those Dragon Shadows down.”

 

As the Dragon Shadows focused their attention on the flame effigy, Rielle and the others executed a barrage of attacks on their enemies, swiftly eliminating them one by one. As the last shadow fell at the end of Rielle’s blade, the flame effigy stopped in its tracks.

 

“You… Are you friend or foe?” Rielle shouted towards the effigy. The flames began to fade at the sound of her voice, and the dark steel bones dissolved along with them. The embers collapsed into a pile of ash and from it rose as sight Rielle had been waiting to see for weeks.

 

“Well it’s about time ya got here!” Blaze chanted, cracking his neck. “I almost thought y’all had forgotten about me since I’ve been stuck here.”

 

Rielle remained where she was standing, barely able to do as much as crack a smile as she held back both her anger and her tears. “What- ... What happened to the whole being dead thing?” Rielle muttered, her voice cracking as she forced it out.

 

Blaze pointed his thumb at his left eye socket, it now covered with a dark leather eye patch. “I got better,” he said, giving Rielle a thumbs up.


	33. Like Fine Wine

“The Mists are a strange place, my friend.” Blaze peered out to the Orrian seas. Rielle took a seat next to him, meeting him at the top the abandoned watchtower. After finding Blaze in the Mists, the anchor crystal that Lani crafted made it easy for them to return to their realm. What she failed to mention however, was that it was calibrated to spit them out directly in Orr, the island continent that Zhaitan had made his lair.

 

“I think after all this,” Rielle began, reaching into her coat pocket. She pulled out a tarnished silver flask, practically covered in scuff marks and scratches. Rielle popped open the lid, taking a quick sip before handing it to Blaze.

 

“Aye! That’s me flask!” Blaze cheered. “Ahah, I’ve missed this.” He paused for a moment before looking back at her. “I’ve missed all of ye, really.”

 

Rielle put her hand on his shoulder, smiling. “As have we. As have I.” She looked out to the waves. “I mean, I didn’t travel across half of Tyria  _ and _ the Mists just to get you back for nothing, right?”

 

Blaze chuckled. “Ya, you right.” He brought the flask up to his lips. “Ahh, that smell. Dragon Whiskey, huh?”

 

Rielle nodded. “I used it for my rum for a bit, but seeing as we were heading to get you today I thought I’d fill it up with something you’d like.”

 

“Ya really are the best guild leader out there, Rielle.” Blaze said, slamming the flask back as he drank. “Now that’s the stuff! Oh yeah, so what was it ya was saying about after all this?”

 

“Oh, right. You mentioned the Mists.” Rielle said. “I think after all this I’m going to look into them more. We’ve almost all but confirmed that our world from before is still the one we’re in now. We’re just living in it as it was thousands of years ago, when magic was still a thing.”

 

Blaze looked oddly contempt, and took another drink. “Aye, is that so?”

 

“Seems like it. The thing is though places from our world, the one that you and I knew and group up in- I guess you could call it the present day world, still seems to be floating around in the Mists.” Rielle shifted in her seat, crossing her legs and leaning back against the stone battlements. “I mean, you and I have seen it on multiple occasions now. Where we fought the shadow dragon… Earlier, where you appeared in that burning village. That place has to be our present day world, I know it.”

 

“This all seems like a lot, you know that right? I’m a simple man, Rielle. You know that too.” Blaze said with a half smirk on his face. “You point me to the thing and I axe it’s face in. Real simple like, right?”

 

“Yeah… What are you getting at?”   
  


Blaze passed her the flask. “I’m thinking maybe I’m ok with the world being like this now. Yeah, it all ain’t peachy all the time. We’ve got our enemies and that, but y’know we’ve also got good things too. Maybe I’ll just help spread the good things about and leave all this multiple dimension stuff to you all.”

 

Rielle nodded in response again. “I had a feeling you were gonna’ say something like that, ol’ Blaze.” She took a larger sip this time and returned the flask. “And that’s ok with me, friend. No matter what you decide to do, I’ve got your back.”

 

Blaze wrapped his arm around her suddenly, “Aww, thank ya, lass. You guys are the best guildmates a man like me could ask for!”

 

“Blaze, yer crushing me-”

 

“And besides, what’s the worst that could happen?” Blaze continued, oblivious to Rielle’s helpless struggling. “I mean, I’ve already died once and I’m still here!”

 

Rielle finally managed to break free. “Err- Yeah, about that.”

 

He scratched at the back of his neck. “Hmm, how do I explain this… Well I kinda- Well no, I do actually remember everything that happened now.”

 

“When? What are you talking about?” Rielle asked.

 

“The night the world changed and the magic happened. The night we all thought we got trapped in the game.” Blaze set the flask aside and crossed his arms. “Ya see… I guess I forgot everything that night, and maybe it was his fault, and maybe it was just all the magic floating about, but-”

 

“Who’s fault, Blaze? Wait… You’re talking about your power. The fire magic…”

 

Blaze hung his head for a moment, stroking his beard which was much longer than last Rielle had saw him. “You had the power inside you for a bit, didn’t ya? You got a taste of its hunger I bet then.”

 

Rielle remained quiet. She could remember the voice in her head, pounding and echoing through her skull night after night. “How could I forget? It was terrifying.”

 

“That my friend, is him. The one who sold me this power of fire. It was Balthazar himself.”

 

“Balthazar… One of the human’s gods.” Rielle said under her breath. “Wait, you said sold.”

 

“Aye, I did.” Blaze said, holding his chin. He started shaking his head slightly. “I sold him my soul, I did.”

 

“You what!?” Rielle shouted. 

 

Blaze held his hands out between Rielle and himself. “Hey now, hold on a second. Don’t get-”

 

“Hold on, Blaze!? You sold your soul to a god that we don’t even know anything about and you expect me to hold on?”

 

Before Blaze could defend himself any further, The hatch to the rooftop opened up as Tess came up the ladder. “We heard shouting, dear. Is everything alright?”

 

“Dear?” Blaze said with a huge grin as he looked to Rielle. “Did she?” He quickly looked back to Tess. “Did you just call her ‘dear’?”

 

Tess’s face lit up bright red. “I suppose it’s not professional if-”

 

Blaze burst out laughing. “I knew it! I called it! Amaranth, did you hear that? You owe me a 100 gold, ya do! Hahaha!”

 

Rielle smacked her face into her hands, completely giving up her protest against Blaze. 

 

Before the sun set on the horizon that night, the cries of the Risen started echoing through the hills of Orr. “You think they know we’re here?” Blaze asked. The group had been waiting in the bottom of the old watchtower, as Amaranth periodically checked out the partially boarded up windows. 

 

“No, I think that’s our ride.” Amaranth spoke up, cracking open the door of the tower. With the door open, the rest of them could hear a faint humming noise coming from outside. The noise quickly got louder and louder, and they started out the door in a rush. 

 

Dropping from the clouds was a massive airship, not of any particular race’s technology, but rather an obvious collaboration of the scientific minds of Tyria. 

 

“That’s quite the taxi you called, Amaranth!” Blaze shouted.

 

“You can thank our leader for that one. Oh, and Grenic too of course.” Amaranth replied.

 

“The plan was in case any of us got separated as we tried to go into the Mists, to use the portal back to Divinity’s Reach and meet up the the soldiers that the Queen had promised us.” Rielle explained. As the airship descended farther, a rope ladder was thrown off the side towards them. “Alright, all aboard!”

  
  


Atop the airship they were greeted by the five generals of the airship, all either enlisted in the Queen’s guard, or representatives of the other major races’ armies. Grenic descended the stairs from the main deck. “I’m glad it didn’t take us long to find you out here. It’s a mess, really.”

 

Amaranth shook Grenic’s hand, pulling him into a hug. “And I’m glad it didn’t take you long to get to Arah. It smells awful out here, really.”

 

Grenic laughed. “I agree. I’m sure Blaze here would insist that I felt at home with all of the undead around.”

 

“Aye, of course!” Blaze said. “With the creepy crawlies you summon while we’re fighting, these minions of old Dragonface probably seem like you’re aunt Margaret, huh?”

 

As Grenic turned to Blaze, his body froze for a moment. He covered his mouth with his hand, examining Blaze from head to toe. “Are you…? No, it couldn’t be.”

 

Rielle grabbed Grenic’s arm and dragged him up to the upper deck. “We’ll talk about this later. Is there somewhere private we can go while we’re approaching the heart of Orr?” Grenic nodded, directing them to the War Room.

  
  


The five of them entered the War Room, shutting the door behind them. They remained still, until the silence was thick enough to cut with a blade.

 

Finally, Tess spoke up. “Blaze, I think we should address your current situation first.”

 

He scratched at the back of his neck, feeling awkward from being put on the spot. “Aye… Well, I mean- I don’t think it’s that important really, and-”

 

“Just tell them, Blaze.” Rielle said calmly. “I know, and Grenic can tell. We watched you  _ die _ , Blaze.” She sat down at the war table, clenching her fists. “We all saw you die in Divinity. How is it that we were able to find you in the Mists? How did, after all this time, I knew you were still alive. How was I able to  _ feel  _  you still alive?”

 

Blaze approached the war table, taking off his gauntlets and setting them on it. “Alright, Rielle. That’s fair.” He pushed his long cyan hair back out of his face. “Yer right, you did see me die. That knight with the black armour- Nox, you found out it was? He killed me.” Blaze held out his hand and a small wisp of flame crept up from his palm. “The thing is though, my life wasn’t his to take.” He closed his hand tightly, and the flame was crushed into nothing. “Ya see, the thing is… The thing is the power I got in this world came with a price.”

 

“You made a deal-  _ the _ deal, didn’t you?” Amaranth asked, crossing his arms.

 

“Aye.” Blaze said with a nod. “And now my soul or whatever belongs to the god Balthazar. “He’ll stop at nothing to get it for as long as I live now.”

 

“And this, what, seemed like a good idea at the time?” Tess asked, sarcastically.

 

“Aye.” Blaze said with a serious look. “I wasn’t thinking of the consequences at the time.”

 

Grenic set his staff aside, and held his hand out to Blaze. Blaze placed his palm in Grenic’s. “So, how long do you think you have in the mortal realm, Blaze?” Grenic asked.

 

Blaze shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the thing, I don’t really care.” He took his hand from Grenic, and retrieved his gauntlets. “I’ve got a job to do for Rielle- nay, for all of ya.” Blaze clenched his fists in front of him, and another wisp of flame wrapped across both of them. “And I don’t give a damn if Papa Fire comes and gets me in person. He ain’t getting shit until my job is finished and that Elder Dragon is a pile of ash, ya hear?”

 

“That settles it then.” Rielle said, putting her hand in the middle of the table. “Then we take out this bloody dragon, once and for all.”

 

Grenic put his hand on hers. “I’m in. No being should be allowed to cause this much chaos.”

 

Amaranth put his hand on his. “Me too. We all know what we’re fighting for here, and I’m not backing down now.”

 

Tess put her hand on his. “Same here. My sword is yours, for Rielle, and for the guild.”

 

Blaze put his hand on theirs. “Then that’s it. Tomorrow, we fight!”

 

“For the DRGN!” Rielle shouted, as they all joined in together. 

  
  


Later that evening on the upper deck of the Pact’s airship, Rielle ran into Amaranth who was looking off the railing towards the seas they were leaving behind them. He stood with little grace that he normally had, his head tilted against one shoulder. He was twisting his pocket watch between his fingers, popping it open and close repeatedly.

 

“Hey there, you alright?” Rielle asked.

 

Amaranth nearly jumped from the railing, being caught completely off guard. “O-oh, yeah. I suppose s-so.”

 

“So, not alright I take it.” Rielle replied. She leaned against the railing with him. “You know, the sea is usually my place to wind down, but- ...The sea here just feels wrong. Corrupted, like the rest of these lands.”

 

“Y-yeah.” Amaranth replied. “I’m not exactly having the best time trying to relax out here, as you might of guessed.” He held the pocket watch tightly in his hand, the chain wrapped around his fingers.

 

“You’ve still got her picture in there, don’t you?” Rielle asked. “Did… Did you happen to find her?”

 

“Yeah, she’s safe though.” Amaranth replied. He clicked the pocket watch open, revealing a picture of a woman with long blonde hair. “I’ll be damned if I let that dragon anywhere near her.”

 

Rielle nodded, and put her hand on Amaranth’s shoulder. “It’s going to be ok. We can do this, y’know?”

 

“Right… Hey, after all of this is over, well- I mean, you know.”

 

“It’s okay, Amar.” Rielle said. “You should be with her. Although the DRGN is gonna be on hard time without their spymaster.”

 

Amaranth put the pocket watch away, quickly recomposing himself. “Oh, you think I’m going to let Blaze run all that? Now  _ that’s  _ a laugh.” He shook his head, with that familiar smirk across his face. “Don’t worry, you’ll still have me on the job. Although I think after all this I will have fought enough dragons for my sake.”

 

“Ah, well that’s good to know, old friend.” Rielle said, smiling. She held out her hand to him, and he grasped it firmly. “The guild just wouldn’t be the same without you, Amar. I do appreciate what you’re doing for me.” She leaned forward, kissing him on the cheek. “Without people like you and Blaze, I just wouldn’t know what I was doing in this crazy world.

 

Amaranth laughed. “Oh Rielle, what are we going to do with you? Well, you do capture my good side at least, which is to say you get my side that politely hates everybody around me that’s not us.”

 

Rielle smiled. “Oh, but of course Amar. We wouldn’t have it any other way.” She said, and lead them inside.

 

“Yeah, of course, lass.” Blaze said. “It’s not like every day you get to meet a Mursaat in the Mists! Hahah!”

 

Rielle shook her head, grabbing a drink from the cabinet before sitting with the rest of the group.

 

“So, you met a  _ real _ Mursaat in the Mists, did you?” Tess asked with partial disbelief.

 

“Aye, he taught me all sorts of things.” Blaze replied. “I was travelin’ through the Mists like ya said, after all the things happened in Divinity, and I ran into him.” Blaze took a swig from his pint glass. “Well, ya see first off I ran into this big beastie creature. It was throwing the scary mage around like a ragdoll, it was.”

 

“So, I’m assuming this ‘scary mage’ was the Mursaat you were talking about?” Grenic asked, before pushing his face into his own pint glass.

 

“Ya right, bud.” Blaze said. “It was then I knew there was only one thing I could do. Well, actually there was two things. Either I pretend I didn’t see a thing, or I go and punch the thing head on, cause since I was in the Mists one of me axes was missing, and the other had wound up broken somehow.” 

 

“And thus, our  _ Mighty Blaze _ here punched the enemy.” Rielle said, giggling as she raised her drink into the air.

 

“Aye, ya damn right I did!” Blaze said with a huge smile. “I punched it so hard it ran off with its tail between its legs. Then me and Mr. Scary Mage had a nice long talk, and he taught me a few things about magic.” He held up one of his gauntlets, which glowed red with magical runes inscribed all along the leather straps. “I even learned enough from ‘em to reforge my remaining axe into these fancy gauntlets! Like a fine wine, I just keep getting better.”

 

Rielle knelt down beside Blaze. “Yeah, so about that.” She cupped her hand around his ear and whispered. “I actually had your other axe, and it got destroyed when we opened the portal to the Mists to save you.”

 

Blaze nodded. “That’s alright, I kinda figured as much. That connection ye had for a while. I could well, vaguely feel it. I knew you were all alive and that, and when you entered the Mists I could feel that too. It’s weird, but I don’t feel bad about the axe. No worries, lass.”

 

As midnight approached the crew retired to their quarters and the ship continued its voyage into the heart of Arah, the lair of the Elder Dragon Zhaitan.

  
  


Dawn came sooner than any of them expected. The five members of the DRGN gathered to the upper deck, fully gear and weapons in hand.

 

“Alright everyone, this is it.” Rielle began, holding Azure Edge tightly. “We are approaching our target quickly, and soon we will be in the Elder Dragon’s lair.”

 

“What are your orders, Rielle?” Amaranth asked.

 

“Yeah, so what’s the plan, boss? We gonna’ run up to the old dragon like, ‘You there! Fight me!” Blaze shouted.

 

“Something like that.” Rielle replied with a smirk on her face. “Alright, our formation is as follows. The crew on the ship provides the best aerial support they can manage while we descend to the Halls of Arah, where Zhaitan rests. Tess and I will be on front lines, while Amar and Grenic will be support.”

 

“And me?” Blaze asked.

 

“You, Blaze.” Rielle replied. “You’re gonna burn the place to the ground.”

 

Blaze’s face lit up. “I can do that! It’s in my name!”

  
  



End file.
